Yes, in some circumstances.
A firearm is not automatically illegal to sell simply because an individual made it at home. Federal law allows a person who may lawfully possess firearms to make a non-NFA firearm for personal use without first obtaining a federal firearms manufacturer’s license.
Federal law also does not prohibit every later transfer of a firearm that was originally made for personal use.
The legal analysis changes if the person was actually engaged in the business of manufacturing firearms for sale or distribution. Federal law requires a license for that activity.
Other restrictions can also affect the transaction, including the buyer’s eligibility to possess firearms, where the buyer lives, whether a Federal Firearms Licensee becomes involved, and whether the firearm falls into a separately regulated category.
A homemade firearm investigation can therefore involve much more than whether the gun has a serial number. Davis & Hoss represents clients facing gun and weapon charges under state and federal law.
What Is a Privately Made Firearm?
Federal regulations use the term privately made firearm, or PMF.
A PMF is a firearm, including a frame or receiver, that was completed, assembled, or otherwise produced by someone other than a licensed manufacturer and did not receive a serial number from a licensed manufacturer when it was produced.
The phrase “ghost gun” is widely used, but it is not an exact substitute for the federal term privately made firearm.
It is also important not to assume that every gun assembled at home is a PMF.
For example, someone could assemble a firearm using a commercially manufactured receiver that already carries a manufacturer’s serial number. The fact that final assembly happened at home does not necessarily turn the resulting firearm into a PMF.
ATF provides additional information about https://www.atf.gov/firearms/privately-made-firearms.
Can You Legally Make a Gun for Yourself?
Federal law permits an individual who is legally allowed to possess firearms to make a non-NFA firearm for personal use without first obtaining a federal firearms license.
That does not create an unlimited right to manufacture any type of weapon.
Federal laws concerning prohibited possessors, certain firearm configurations, undetectable firearms, the National Firearms Act, and other firearm restrictions still apply.
The reason the firearm was made also matters.
There is a meaningful legal difference between someone making a firearm for personal ownership and someone manufacturing firearms as a business for sale or distribution.
Can You Later Sell a Gun You Originally Made for Yourself?
A later sale does not automatically establish that the firearm was unlawfully manufactured.
Federal law does not impose a blanket prohibition on transferring a privately made firearm that was lawfully produced for personal use.
The more important question may be whether the person was actually engaged in the business of manufacturing firearms.
That means the legal issue is not simply:
Was a homemade gun sold?
The issue may instead be:
Was the person manufacturing firearms as a regular course of trade or business for the required profit objective?
Those are very different questions.
Someone who makes a firearm for personal use and later decides to dispose of it presents different facts from someone who manufactures firearms as products intended for customers.
When Does Making Guns Become a Firearms Business?
Federal law requires a person engaged in the business of manufacturing firearms to have the appropriate federal license.
For firearm manufacturers, federal law focuses on whether the person devotes time, attention, and labor to manufacturing firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the sale or distribution of the firearms manufactured.
That standard should not be confused with the separate federal rules defining when someone is engaged in the business of dealing in firearms.
This distinction matters because there is no simple rule stating that one sale, two sales, or another specific number of homemade firearm transactions automatically turns someone into an unlawful manufacturer.
The circumstances surrounding the manufacturing activity can matter.
For that reason, someone facing an ATF investigation should not assume that the government is concerned only with the final sale. Investigators may instead be examining the reason the firearms were being produced.
Can Two Tennessee Residents Make a Private Firearm Sale?
At the federal level, the Gun Control Act does not require two unlicensed residents of the same state to use a Federal Firearms Licensee solely because they are making a firearm transaction between themselves.
That does not mean every private firearm sale in Tennessee is lawful.
Tennessee does not require a background check for an occasional private sale, which is governed by federal licensing rules. Tennessee law does, however, make it an offense to sell or offer to sell a firearm to a person the seller knows is prohibited from possessing one (Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1316), and it restricts sales or transfers to minors and intoxicated persons (Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1303). Possession by prohibited persons is separately governed by Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1307.
The fact that no gun dealer participates in the transaction does not eliminate those restrictions.
The PMF status of the firearm does not create an exception either.
Can You Sell a Homemade Gun to Someone Who Cannot Legally Possess Firearms?
A privately made firearm is still a firearm for purposes of applicable possession and transfer restrictions.
Federal law prohibits certain firearm transfers when the seller knows or has reasonable cause to believe the recipient falls within a prohibited category.
Tennessee also has laws addressing firearm sales and certain transfers involving prohibited recipients.
A person who cannot lawfully possess a commercially manufactured firearm does not gain the right to possess one simply because the firearm was made privately.
This is one reason a homemade firearm case can involve separate allegations concerning both the seller’s conduct and the buyer’s legal status.
Does a Homemade Gun Need a Serial Number Before You Sell It?
Not every privately made firearm is illegal because it lacks a serial number placed by a licensed manufacturer.
Federal PMF rules do not impose a blanket requirement that every unlicensed individual who lawfully makes a firearm for personal use must add a serial number simply because the gun was privately made.
That changes when a Federal Firearms Licensee acquires certain privately made firearms.
There is also an important distinction between a firearm that never received a licensed manufacturer’s serial number and a firearm that originally had a serial number that was later removed, altered, or obliterated.
Those are legally different circumstances.
The rules governing lawful privately made firearms should never be understood as permission to remove or alter an existing manufacturer’s or importer’s serial number.
What Happens If an FFL Receives the Homemade Firearm?
Federal marking and recordkeeping rules can apply when a Federal Firearms Licensee receives a privately made firearm into inventory.
An FFL that acquires an unmarked PMF is subject to federal requirements concerning identification of that firearm.
Current federal regulations require the licensee to place the required identifying information on an acquired PMF no later than seven days after acquisition or before the firearm is disposed of, whichever occurs first.
That seven-day rule applies to the licensee.
It should not be interpreted as a rule giving every private firearm owner seven days to serialize a gun made at home.
When an FFL transfers an acquired PMF to another non-licensee, federal acquisition and disposition records, ATF Form 4473, and background-check requirements may also apply.
Tennessee’s licensed firearm dealers use the Tennessee Instant Check System, commonly called TICS, for applicable firearm background checks.
Can You Sell a Homemade Gun to Someone in Georgia?
A direct private sale between residents of different states is treated differently under federal law.
An unlicensed Tennessee resident cannot directly transfer a firearm to another unlicensed person when the seller knows or has reasonable cause to believe the buyer resides in another state, except where a statutory exception applies.
That remains true even when the firearm was privately made.
An interstate firearm transaction between unlicensed individuals is therefore not treated the same way as a private transaction between two Tennessee residents.
This distinction can be especially important around Chattanooga because a potential buyer may live only a few miles away in Georgia.
Physical distance is not what controls the issue. The parties’ states of residence matter.
Does Tennessee’s Firearms Freedom Act Change the Federal Rules?
Tennessee enacted the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act in 2009 (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 4-54-101 to 4-54-106).
The law addresses certain firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition manufactured and retained within Tennessee.
Someone should not, however, assume that Tennessee’s statute creates an exemption from applicable federal firearm law.
Federal authorities have maintained that federal firearms requirements continue to apply notwithstanding conflicting provisions of state firearms-freedom laws.
That means a person should not rely on the fact that a firearm was built and remained in Tennessee as a defense to an otherwise applicable federal licensing, interstate-transfer, or National Firearms Act requirement.
What About Gun Kits and Unfinished Frames or Receivers?
Gun kits and unfinished firearm components require additional caution.
A product described by a seller as an “80% receiver,” blank, unfinished frame, or firearm kit is not automatically outside federal firearm regulation simply because it is incomplete.
The United States Supreme Court addressed this issue in Bondi v. VanDerStok in 2025.
The Court upheld ATF’s rule against the facial challenge before it and concluded that at least some weapon-part kits can qualify as firearms under the Gun Control Act because they may readily be converted into functioning weapons. The Court also concluded that federal law can reach at least some partially complete frames and receivers.
The decision did not hold that every unfinished piece of material or every firearm component is automatically a firearm.
The legal status can depend on the characteristics and condition of the particular product.
Readers can review the https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-852_o7jp.pdf.
Are NFA Firearms Different?
Yes.
The rule allowing an eligible person to make an ordinary non-NFA firearm for personal use should not be interpreted as permission to privately manufacture every type of firearm.
The National Firearms Act separately regulates certain categories of weapons.
Those categories can include machineguns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, silencers, destructive devices, and weapons classified under federal law as “any other weapon.”
Making a firearm covered by the NFA can require an application, identification of the firearm and applicant, registration, and federal approval before the firearm is made.
The firearm’s legal classification can therefore become important before the question of selling it is ever reached.
When Can Selling Homemade Guns Lead to Federal Charges?
A federal investigation involving privately made firearms does not automatically mean that a crime occurred.
The government must prove the elements of whatever offense is actually charged.
Depending on the allegations, an investigation could concern:
- manufacturing firearms without the required federal license;
- unlawfully engaging in the business of dealing firearms;
- transferring a firearm to a prohibited person;
- an unlawful interstate firearm transfer;
- possession of a firearm by a prohibited person;
- removal or alteration of an existing firearm serial number; or
- an NFA violation involving the firearm’s configuration or classification.
The presence of a homemade or privately made firearm does not, by itself, prove those offenses.
That is why describing a case simply as a “ghost gun case” can be misleading.
The actual statute and the government’s evidence matter.
Davis & Hoss represents clients facing federal firearm charges and related investigations.
What If ATF Is Investigating a Homemade Gun Sale?
An ATF investigation involving a privately made firearm may extend beyond the firearm itself.
Investigators may examine legally obtained communications, transaction records, payment information, advertisements, firearm components, evidence concerning prior sales, and information about why firearms were produced.
Those facts can become important if prosecutors claim the person was engaged in the business of manufacturing firearms rather than simply disposing of a personally owned firearm.
The buyer’s state of residence and legal ability to possess firearms may also become important.
Someone contacted by federal investigators can speak with a criminal-defense attorney before deciding whether to provide a statement.
The defense analysis should begin with the specific conduct being investigated and the actual statute the government believes was violated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a homemade gun automatically illegal in Tennessee?
No. A firearm is not automatically illegal solely because it was made at home. Federal law permits an eligible person to make a non-NFA firearm for personal use. Other federal and Tennessee restrictions may still apply.
Can I sell a gun that I originally made for myself?
A later transfer is not automatically prohibited simply because the firearm was privately made. The circumstances can change if the person was engaged in the business of manufacturing firearms for sale or distribution.
Does selling one homemade firearm automatically make me an illegal manufacturer?
No federal law creates a rule stating that one sale automatically proves that someone was engaged in the business of manufacturing firearms. The statutory manufacturing-business standard depends on the nature and purpose of the activity.
Does a homemade firearm have to have a serial number?
Federal law does not impose a blanket serialization requirement on every PMF lawfully made by an unlicensed individual for personal use. Different marking requirements can apply when an FFL acquires an unmarked PMF.
Can two Tennessee residents privately sell a firearm without using an FFL?
Federal law does not require an FFL solely because two unlicensed residents of the same state make a firearm transaction between themselves. Federal and Tennessee restrictions concerning the firearm, seller, buyer, and circumstances still apply.
Can I directly sell a homemade firearm to someone who lives in Georgia?
Federal interstate-transfer restrictions apply when an unlicensed Tennessee resident transfers a firearm to an unlicensed resident of another state. The fact that the gun was privately made does not create an exception.
Are all gun kits considered firearms?
No. However, the Supreme Court’s decision in Bondi v. VanDerStok confirms that at least some weapon-parts kits and partially complete frames or receivers can qualify as firearms under federal law.
Facing an Investigation Involving a Privately Made Firearm?
Whether a homemade firearm transaction is lawful cannot be determined from the absence of a serial number alone.
Why the firearm was made, whether the person had entered the business of manufacturing firearms, where the buyer lived, whether the buyer could lawfully possess firearms, whether an FFL acquired the firearm, and the firearm’s legal classification can all affect the analysis.
If ATF or another law enforcement agency is investigating the manufacture or sale of a privately made firearm, Davis & Hoss handles federal criminal defense cases involving firearm allegations and other federal offenses.
How a case is handled can depend on the specific charge and local court procedures.