Picture the federal government forcing new VINs and new titles in the following circumstances:

1. A body shop straightens your car after an accident.
2. The local gas station tunes up your car.
3. A restoration shop takes your grandfathers Model T for a frame-off.
4. You pull a rust bucket out of junk yard and restore it.

You don't drive a Chevy or a Ford or an Acura, you drive a "Roger's Auto Body" or a "Smith Exxon". 

The BATFE is going after gunsmiths for work analagous to this via the Tax and Trade Bureau to fine, and in some cases, close down small, custom gun shops.

If you want to get directly to the meat, click here. 

Let's start at the begining: What is to "manufacture a firearm"?

According to Princeton, manufacture:

and firearm:

So far, so good except for one thing. Firearm has a legal definition in § 921. Definitions

(3) The term “firearm” means

(A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;

(B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon;

(C) any firearm muffler or firearm silencer; or

(D) any destructive device. Such term does not include an antique firearm.

For the sake of this discussion, we are not concerned with anything NFA, so only (A) and (B) apply.

Nowhere does "Make a bad gun good" or "Make a good gun better" fall anywhere within the definition "manufacturing firearms". That does not stop the BATFE from throwing common sense out the window.

Ultimately, the question for gunsmiths becomes, "Where does maintenance end and manufacturing begin?" The question is significant as the answer affects whether or not you pay Federal Excise Tax on your work. Get the answer wrong and you rate a visit from the BATFE and the Tax and Trade Bureau. Unfortunately for some smiths, the answer changes depending on which BATFE agent you talk to.

If you thought that was bad enough, be patient. Let's say that you are a gun writer. As a part of your job, you have had gunsmiths tune guns to your liking so you could write about them, thereby making money on the improvements. According to some in the BATFE you have just made yourself a 'manufacturer' and the smith working for you is a subcontractor. You, as the writer, are responsible for having a manufacturing FFL and paying excise taxes.

Let's get back to the important question: "Where does maintenance end and manufacturing begin?"

1. You buy a raw frame from XYZ Arms and produce a working firearm. The BATFE has never expected XYZ to pay the FET on raw frames shipped. You are manufacturing, need the right FFL and need to pay the FET.
2. A customer brings in a new firearm they have bought and look to improve it. The original manufacturer payed FET on the firearm. Believe it or not, some in the BATFE consider this manufacturing and will shut your shop down for not paying the FET again.
3. A customer brings in an old firearm that is well worn looking for you to blue it, replace the barrel and do a trigger job. Again, this may be considered 'manufacturing' and you could be closed for not paying the FET.
4. You, as a gunsmith, buy a stock of new firearms to be upgraded before you sell them. The FET has been payed by the original manufacturer. And again, you may be considered 'manufacturing' and you could be closed for not paying the repeat FET.

Decades went by where only #1 was considered manufacturing. In the last year that has changed. Members of the American Pistolsmiths Guild, in particular, have become targets. Single income families are now no income families as the BATFE crosses the country inflicting their own brand of justice.

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