From the ATF: “The purpose of this procedure is to destroy the receiver or frame in a manner that will prevent its function and future use as a firearm.”
Here’s a photo Scott Pappalardo posted on Facebook of the outcome of his actions.
Here’s Scott Pappalardo with his AR-15 after sawing it in half.
Tuesday we posted a video of New York gun owner who filmed himself sawing his AR-15 in half. The man, identified as Scott Pappalardo, destroyed his AR-15 to protest gun violence in the wake of last week’s shooting in Parkland, Fla.
Several of our readers acknowledged that the upper and lower receivers went undamaged during the attempted “destruction.” They aren’t wrong.
The purpose of this procedure is to destroy the receiver or frame in a manner that will prevent its function and future use as a firearm. A proper method of destroying this firearm is to cut the receiver into separate pieces as follows. All cutting must be done with a cutting torch having a tip of sufficient size to displace at least ¼ inch of material at each location.
Each cut must completely sever the receiver in the area indicated by the diagonal lines.
The receiver must be completely severed in each area indicated with a diagonal torch cut.
Cutting by means of a band saw or cut-off wheel does not ensure destruction.
In the video, it looks like Pappalardo’s actions don’t meet ATF standards. However, after the video was filmed, he reportedly sawed his AR-15 into thirds (see photo in gallery above). His loss.
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Best Comments
Regardless, we found our readers’ comments incredibly entertaining regarding the seemingly improper “destruction.” We decided to list our favorites below. Enjoy!
“Watch as gun owner commits a felony by illegally making an SBR.” – Eliott Kroll
“He cut the barrel, thereby committing a felony, it is against current law to have a SBR without proper BATF paperwork. And it’s a 10 minute repair with a new barrel with furniture.” – Dennis New
“Upper and lower receiver are still undamaged. It’s still a legal firearm. He could have just hit it with his purse and gotten the same end result.” – Ian McCaffrey
“He should cut up his forks to stop childhood obesity.” – Michael Bernhart
“New York, that’s all the info I needed!” – James W Thomas
“So he now has an unregistered SBR …” – David Porter
“Nice. Making an SBR without an approved Form 1 from the ATF. You showed us.” – Matt Knight
“I’ll believe him when he takes a torch and cuts his car in half to prevent drunk driving.” – Stephen Amann
“Can’t wait until he saws his car in half because a drunk driver used one to kill somebody.” – Eric Gross
The Video
You can watch the video of Scott Pappalardo sawing his AR-15 here.
