  We investigate a proposal for the construction of models with chiral fermions
on the lattice using staggered fermions. In this approach the gauge invariance
is broken by the coupling of the staggered fermions to the gauge fields.
Motivated by previous results in the non-gauge invariant massive Yang-Mills
theory and certain gauge-fermion models we aim at a dynamical restoration of
the gauge invariance in the full quantum model. If the gauge symmetry breaking
is not too severe, this procedure could lead in the continuum limit to the
desired gauge invariant chiral gauge theory. This scenario is very attractive
since it does not rely on gauge fixing. We investigate a simple realization of
this approach in a U(1) axial-vector model with dynamical fermions in four
dimensions.
