Is this seriously the case? If so, I certainly wouldn't want to test the theory but would be very curious how this would go down in a court of law.
Crown - your honour, the defendent was transporting a nefarious restricted firearm without it being trigger locked and in plain view. I have it here. It doesn't actually have a trigger, internals, firing pin, reciever, barrel or any other parts but the criminal, I mean defendent was flaunting societys conventions....(in the voice of Jackie Chiles.....)
Yessir. The lower receiver is the "firearm" and restricted firearms must be transported accordingly. I would think the courts would cut you some slack as it is completely non-functional....but that's the law as it is written.