Background
The Scott J. Beigel Unfinished Receiver Act was enacted alongside the Jose Webster Untraceable Firearms Act, with both laws signed into law in October 2021 and most provisions taking effect in April 2022. The Act was named after Scott J. Beigel, a geography teacher and cross-country coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who was killed in the 2018 mass shooting while protecting his students.[1]
While the Jose Webster Act addressed completed ghost guns, the Beigel Act targeted the upstream supply chain by regulating the unfinished frames and receivers that are used to build unserialized firearms.[2]
Definition of Unfinished Frame or Receiver
Under PL 265.07(1), an "unfinished frame or receiver" is defined as unserialized material that does not yet constitute the frame or receiver of a firearm, rifle, or shotgun, has been shaped or formed for the purpose of becoming one, and may readily be made into a functional frame or receiver through milling, drilling, or other means.[3]
The definition requires unserialized material that has been shaped or formed for the purpose of becoming a frame or receiver and may readily be made functional through milling, drilling, or other means. The current statutory definition does not create a separate exclusion based on a change to the material's chemical composition.[4]
Key Prohibitions
The Beigel Act established the following restrictions through PL 265.07:[2]
- Possession restrictions: Penal Law Section 265.01 makes knowing possession of a major component of a firearm, rifle, or shotgun that is unserialized a Class A misdemeanor, subject to the statute's exceptions
- Sale prohibition: The sale, exchange, giving, or disposal of an unfinished frame or receiver is prohibited, except for a transfer to a gunsmith or a voluntary surrender to law enforcement as provided by the statute
- Serialization mandate: A licensed or required-to-be-licensed gunsmith, or a firearms dealer, who possesses an unserialized unfinished frame or receiver must engrave identifying information meeting federal standards
- Registration: The covered gunsmith or dealer must register the serialized item with the Division of Criminal Justice Services
Penalties
Knowing possession of a major component of a firearm, rifle, or shotgun that is unserialized is a Class A misdemeanor under PL 265.01, subject to the statutory exceptions. Sale or distribution of unserialized unfinished frames or receivers carries separate criminal penalties.[5]
Enforcement and Impact
The Beigel Act has been enforced through coordinated actions by the Attorney General's office and law enforcement agencies. Attorney General James has brought actions against online sellers advertising and shipping unfinished frames and receivers to New York buyers in violation of the law.[6] Together, the Jose Webster Act and the Beigel Act were described at the time of their signing as "the nation's toughest restrictions on ghost guns."[7]