"Engaged in the business" further defined...
(21) The term "engaged in the busi-
ness" means—
(D) as applied to a dealer in fire-
arms, as defined in section
921(a)(11)(B), a person who devotes
time, attention, and labor to engaging
in such activity as a regular course of
trade or business with the principal
objective of livelihood and profit, but
such term shall not include a person
who makes occasional repairs of fire-
arms, or who occasionally fits special
barrels, stocks, or trigger mecha-
nisms to firearms;
See, that's where the fun begins. That paragraph can be interpreted any number of ways.
You start with the federal criminal code, 18 USC whatever. Then you look to BATF regulations (the quote) which interpret and implement the federal code. Then you look to ATF rulings and letters which "clarify" the meaning of the regulations. Along the way you look at private letter rulings, curious creatures. Letter rulings apply to the particular individual asking the question but nobody else. And of course any relevant court cases. Now you take that whole mess and try to synthesize an opinion on what position the BATF will take on a particular issue. Sometimes it's clear, often not.
Perusing all that junk, BUT NOT EXHAUSTIVELY so I will stand to be corrected, to be included in "gunsmithing" does not require that you take possession as in "transfer" and they tie "in the business" as trying to turn a profit no matter how infrequently. i.e. making occasional repairs means without an eye to making a profit.
Actually part way through the research I decided it wasn't worth even the research time for the few coins I might pick up on the occasions I'd would like something for my time.
BTW, like the IRS a BATF agent's opinion is not legally binding on the BATF. But going by their advice shows you have every intent to follow the law so it would be rare for them to make an issue of it. Unless you're trying to do something sneaky, they don't like that. That's where people tend to get hammered.
