← Legal Glossary
Frame or Receiver
Definition
The principal structural component of a firearm — the housing that contains the firing mechanism (trigger, hammer) and sealing components that direct a bullet out the barrel. Under the Gun Control Act, the frame or receiver is the legally regulated 'backbone' of a gun; all other parts attach to it.
Examples
- •The partially complete polymer housing in a ghost gun kit that required a few holes drilled before it could hold firing components and function as the structural core of a handgun