I hate to seem argumentative about this particular point, but there seem to be an awful lot of these so-called 'illegal SBRs' on Gunbroker, et. al., even as we speak.
This particular issue strikes me as one of those "grey areas" much like 922(r), which is typically ignored, (except in the most egregious cases) especially in the case of these weapons.
If, like you say, the .45 ACP versions (rare, rich man's toys that they are) were exempted and these weren't, then we have yet another example of ATF not bothering to follow their own contradictory and unconstitutional "regulations", made from whole cloth, altered at whim, and selectively enforced.
Having said that, I'll have to go back and find the letter from tech branch I clearly remember reading (it might have been in the C&R regs), that specifically mentioned these semi-auto Chinese broomhandles as being exempt. All this begs the question: if these broomhandle pistols weren't exempt, why were they imported with stock slots, when the Fed Ordnance guns of the same type were manufactured without stock slots?
That being said, I would worry far less about having a stocked version of one of these Chinese broomhandles than say, an UZI carbine with a sawed-off barrel. Worlds apart.
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