Here's the relevant law, 18 USC 921(a)(24).frankie_the_yankee wrote: I haven't read the federal law myself yet (and wouldn't trust my own interpretation even after doing so), but I believe the part that refers to having the parts needed to make one being equivalent to having the unit itself applies only if you have ALL the parts, or nearly all of them. For instance, a baffle might be a metal disk with a hole in the center, and maybe a few other holes here and there. The supressor might take 5 of them. But no one is going to convince me that if I happen to have a metal disk in my garage with a hole in the middle, AND NO OTHER SUPRESSOR PARTS, that BATFE is going to raid my house and drag me off to prison for having an unregistered supressor.
Emphasis mine. Of course, just having some large washers that theoretically could be used as improvised baffles isn't illegal in and of itself, but if the BATFE happened to find out that someone had some washers and had reason to believe that they were planning on building an unregistered suppressor, then yes they could and probably would try to haul them into court, whether the suppressor had actually been built or not.(24) The terms “firearm silencer� and “firearm muffler� mean any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.