May, 2001

Among the most vociferous voices rasied against the private ownership of firearms has been that of the medical community, speaking through organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Guns, these doctors would have us believe are the root of all evil in society.  Fortunately, these physicians do not represent the views of all doctors in the United States.  Organizations such as the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) have made great efforts to debunk the statistics and methodologies used by anti-Constitutionalist physicians and writers.  CRUFFLER.COM has been fortunate enough to receive permission from the editorial staff of the AAPS's official journal, The Medical Sentinel,

The Fusil Automatique Legere, or FAL, was one of the most popular and prolific military rifles of the twentieth century.  Even as the rifle's days in front line service with the world's armies come to a close, it is finding ever increasing popularity among collectors and shooters in the United States.  While owning the selective fire version of the FAL presents significant financial and legislative hurdles, the design is readily adaptable into a semiautomatic only form, and manufacturers wasted no time in filling the demand for semiautomatic FAL rifles.  Typically, the rifles were constructed from parts removed from selective fire rifles and rebuilt on new semiautomatic receivers.  Generally these "clones" were well made and a great deal of fun to shoot.  However, after the infamous "assault weapon" ban of 1994, the various FAL clones suffered a dip in popularity.  Overnight, features unrelated to the rifle's operating mechanism were proscribed.  Muzzle devices, bayonet lugs, and separate pistol grips could no longer be fitted to the imported rifles.  Collectors, shooters, and military enthusiasts were disaffected by the neutered thumbhole stocked versions.  By and large the "legislative compromise" FAL clones were uncomfortable to hold, unattractive, and a depressing reminder of the erosion of firearm rights in the US.  Despite the legal hurdles, there was a continuing strong interest in FAL variants in the original configuration, evidenced by the brisk trade in "pre-ban" guns.

The ban operates on two axes:  It both prohibits the importation of certain named firearms, as well as the assembly of similarly featured guns using imported parts, i.e. the conversion of a "post-ban" gun to one with "pre-ban" features.  Specifically, a semiautomatic rifle of a type prohibited from importation, may not be legally assembled if it uses more than ten imported parts of a list of twenty enumerated in Title 27, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 178.39 (the regulatory amplification of Title 18 US Code Sections 922r and 922(d)(3)).  This list of imported parts includes:

(1) Frames, receivers, receiver castings, forgings or stampings
(2) Barrels
(3) Barrel extensions
(4) Mounting blocks (trunions)
(5) Muzzle attachments
(6) Bolts
(7) Bolt carriers
(8) Operating rods
(9) Gas pistons
(10) Trigger housings
(11) Triggers
(12) Hammers
(13) Sears
(14) Disconnectors
(15) Buttstocks
(16) Pistol grips
(17) Forearms, handguards
(18) Magazine bodies
(19) Magazine Followers
(20) Magazine Floorplates

The FAL does not use all of these parts.  The seventeen out of the twenty that are recognized as being components of the FAL are:
 

What this meant to the firearms industry was that if seven out of these seventeen parts could be replaced with equivalent domestically produced parts, FAL rifles in more or less "pre-ban" configuration would be legal for assembly and in full compliance with the law.  Three cheers for Yankee ingenuity and capitalism, as we now have a number of companies domestically producing FAL parts (note that this list is not necessarily exhaustive, and that new manufacturers are getting involved on a regular basis):
 

As can be seen, all but two of the the seventeen are available in a domestically manufactured incarnation.  However, some of them are rather expensive.  Driven largely by cost, the three most common assebly methods to ensure compliance with the law by including seven out of seventeen parts are:
 

METHOD 1	METHOD 2	METHOD 3
Domestic Receiver Domestic Hammer Domestic Trigger Domestic Sear  Domestic Muzzle Brake Domestic Magazine Follower Domestic Magazine Floorplate	Domestic Receiver Domestic Hammer Domestic Sear Domestic Trigger Domestic Gas Piston Domestic Pistol Grip Domestic Muzzle Brake	Domestic Hammer Domestic Trigger Domestic Sear Domestic Gas Piston Domestic Pistol Grip Domestic Buttstock Domestic Muzzle Brake

Of these, the second and third methods have become preferred - magazines are the most easily damaged part of the rifle, and by the time an entire cache of magazines has been outfitted with floorplates and followers, enough money has been spent to purchase several of the more permanently attached US parts!

In addition to the parts, there is another commodity that the home FAL builder needs to obtain:  Receipts for the parts!  By and large, the domestically produced parts are indistinguishable from the originals, and should you ever have to prove that the rifle does indeed contain the requisite number of US parts, the receipts are your only proof.

Conclusion
Building FAL's is an enjoyable and rewarding pastime, but there are legislative hurdles that need to be cleared.  In a nutshell:

1.  The controlling regulation on the domestically produced parts requirement is 27 CFR 178.39
2.  No more than 10 of the 20 parts enumerated in 27 CFR 178.39 may be of foreign manufacture
3.  The FAL uses 17 of the 20 parts.
4.  You must replace 7 of the 17 parts
5.  Maintain records of your purchases of the domestically produced parts.

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