Americans can legally manufacture an assault rifle for personal use without registering it, so Daniel Crowninshield figured his paying customers could push the button to start his milling equipment and claim they made the AR-15 themselves. Feds disagreed.
Crowninshield, aka Dr-Death, would legally sell unregistered metal components called "blanks." He would then invite customers to modify the blanks at C&G Tool in North Sacramento. After he got it all set up, he would have the customers push the buttons to start the milling process.
Per DOJ:
Generally, the manufacturing at C&G Tool would proceed as follows: prospective gun buyers would purchase an AR-15 blank and take it to C&G Tool where a skilled machinist would mill the blank into an AR-15 lower receiver. According to federal law, a person may manufacture a firearm for personal use without including a serial number on the firearm, provided that the firearm is not sold or transferred to another person. Otherwise, to manufacture a firearm requires a license from ATF, and a firearm that is transferred to another person must bear a serial number. According to court documents, in order to create the pretext that C&G customers were building their own firearms, the skilled machinist would have the customer press a button or put his or her hands on a piece of machinery so that the customer could claim that the customer, rather than the machinist, made the firearm.
• Sacramento Gun Manufacturer Sentenced to Prison for Manufacturing and Assisting Others to Manufacture AR-15 Rifles (via Popular Mechanics)
Image: Mitch Barrie
