• If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership  The benefits pay for the membership many times over.

Helping a friend: is that allowed?

4

40 Creedmoor fan

Joined
Oct 31, 2020
Messages
1,607
Likes
1,886
Feedback: 3 / 0 / 0
Do you have a friend that cannot be trusted with any tools. Ask him to hang a picture and he will make so many holes in the wall, it will require a GC to fix. Anyways, let's say a friend is a shooter(better than me, that's for sure!) and he asked if I could help him replace a stock trigger on his Glock. This is not a difficult job but I am concerned about the legality of it. So, here's the question: if I work on someone else's gun and don't ask for money beyond the cost of parts, does that mean I am a gunsmith and have to have a gunsmithing license? Am I even allowed to do it in my home!? Would the answer be different if I asked him to order and pay for the parts himself and I would just do the work?
Thank you in advance for tolerating newbie questions!
 
Sammy said:
Do you have a friend that cannot be trusted with any tools. Ask him to hang a picture and he will make so many holes in the wall, it will require a GC to fix. Anyways, let's say a friend is a shooter(better than me, that's for sure!) and he asked if I could help him replace a stock trigger on his Glock. This is not a difficult job but I am concerned about the legality of it. So, here's the question: if I work on someone else's gun and don't ask for money beyond the cost of parts, does that mean I am a gunsmith and have to have a gunsmithing license? Am I even allowed to do it in my home!? Would the answer be different if I asked him to order and pay for the parts himself and I would just do the work?
Thank you in advance for tolerating newbie questions!
Click to expand...
Would you ask NES the same type of advice regarding the replacement of a lawnmower belt? Or a cutting blade on a trimmer? A tool is a tool. Act accordingly.
 
Fun's fun,
but OP would be better served if someone read between the lines
and addressed his implicit question
about some laws someplace mandating some kind of minimum trigger pull weight.
 
AHM said:
Fun's fun,
but OP would be better served if someone read between the lines
and addressed his implicit question
about some laws someplace mandating some kind of minimum trigger pull weight.
Click to expand...
There aren't any. Not unless somebody is a firearm purveyor. (Aka dealer selling more than 4 handguns a year in MA) And even then most of that is pretty debatable.

I give this thread one pack of ravenous wolves....


View: https://youtu.be/9cmT8M_67ow
 
drgrant said:
There aren't any. Not unless somebody is a firearm purveyor. (Aka dealer selling more than 4 handguns a year in MA) And even then most of that is pretty debatable.
Click to expand...
Not saying it's valid.

Not saying it's ever been valid for OP.

But sometime down through the echoing halls of time,
there was one someplace for somebody, right?

I'm inferring OP heard about that.

Totally sufficient to reassure OP
"there are laws but not for your type".
3d8cc0cf22cb37ac17605b4c6ff01a5a.jpg
 
here's a nugget....the said glock is used in a self defense situation. this glock is taken into evidence and the prosecution has an expert go over it. they find a non-stock trigger and the light bulb goes off. someone gave this instrument of death a "hair trigger" and for what....to knowingly kill easier. under the threat of several more years added to his sentence if convicted, the friend is pointing that finger screaming "him! he did it! he fooled with the trigger. i told him no but he did it anyway! him i tell you!" in several years, the op and said friend will be laughing at this whole situation while sitting out in the exercise yard munching slim jims and drinking yoo hoo purchased in the prison commissary. [laugh]
 
The short answer was answered. Put in the trigger and have a beer. The not so short answer is if you want to become a Gun Smith and assuming you are in MA...here's the skinny. Get a suitable location to set up shop (I suggest the mill in Littleton), get a tax number, apply for an FFL, do the interview, get the FFL, apply for a business license in Littleton, apply for a trio gun dealer license in MA, do the interview with the PD, take the MA gun dealer license, get your MA dealer license, have your friend make an appointment (as all gun smiting needs to be done at your place of business), buy the trigger (as you don't want to be putting in customers parts), add 30% to trigger cost, figure you what you are going to charge him, quote him......he says eef that my buddy will put it in for free! He walks out, you lose a friend and you have no beer!
 
OP - there is a reason why they are called "drop in triggers". Hell, Four Seasons advertises that they will install an Apex trigger that you purchase from them, while you wait. They have installed a couple of short reset triggers on my Sigs for me before I picked them up.

Chances are, if your buddy is ever in a place that an investigator is examining the type of trigger on his Glock, he has much much bigger problems than the stupid trigger. Like whether to accept the plea deal for manslaughter or go to trial for murder.
FWIW, the two main reasons I don't own Glocks are grip angle and the stock trigger. You can't really change the grip angle, but the trigger is an easy fix.
 
If your friend is too stupid to handle a punch then he is too stupid to handle a firearm.

You need a punch to replace a Glock trigger and about 5 min to watch a video on how to do it.

If you are a troll looking to stir up some shit about working on guns without a gunsmith license then gtfo.

If you were asking about welding rails into an AK receiver then it would be a different story, but the ease of the task makes your OP suspicious.
 
Last edited:
No one has said hello to Maura yet? we're slipping.

Is your friend going to rat you out? Tell your friend to watch youtube and do it himself.
 
When you ask oddball questions like this, there will always be a few statists and busybodies who say you're illegally performing unlicensed gunsmith work. These people have likely taken a Massad Ayoob course in the late 80's. These are the same type of people who also argue that three kicks of the same can constitutes illegal transportation of garbage, or that you can't put squirrels down your pants for the purpose of gambling.

Ignore them, and help your friend drop in a trigger. You'll be just fine. The staties will not kick down your door and shoot your dog. You're not goin' to jail. Maura doesn't care. Nothing will happen. Also, there is no such thing as a grown man who is incapable of swapping triggers on a Glock.
 

Similar threads

The Michigan Man is Coming to Town! | Join me on a Road Trip to see David Hogg!
Replies
1
Views
200
MassPete
MassPete
Is the HK USP .45 legal in MA?
Replies
16
Views
407
drgrant
drgrant
A real "hmm" on duty to retreat in a mass-shooting...
2 3 4
Replies
94
Views
2K
HooVooLoo
HooVooLoo
  • Locked
Is it legal ?
2 3
Replies
75
Views
2K
M1911
M1911
Antique rifles - 45/70 takes cartridge so is it an antique
Replies
7
Views
304
Ben Cartwright SASS
Ben Cartwright SASS
Back
Top Bottom