Originally Posted by
Topgun 3006
I don't think Oldtimr needs to be schooled on this and I don't know why you're getting all over him in regards to his statements because what he has been saying all along, as well as what super hunt54 and I have stated regarding these firearms Ed is making, is exactly what you have just stated agreeing with him in your last paragraph! None of us have made any statements regarding the BATFE and their gun classifications, but rather what the individual states can accept or reject in regards to hunting in this particular thread.
Statements were made that suggested a shotgun isn't a shotgun just because it has brass cartridges, a rifled barrel, and a single projectile:
Originally Posted by
super_hunt54
You keep saying "shotgun only" states but I would have to doubt very seriously the legality of one of these things in IL if one got caught.
Originally Posted by
Oldtimr
The question is, how long before states that require shotgun only decide that a gun that for all intent and purpose is more rifle than shotgun is not going to be legal in shotgun only areas or shotgun only states. When a brass case is loaded with a single projectile and is loaded into a firearm with a rifled barrel, and that brass casing (cartridge) was made for that specific firearm, is that firearm still a shotgun or is it a rifle? I believe the case can easily be made that it is a rifle doing what a rifle was meant to do, and that is to fire bullets, not shot. I suspect if this comes to the attention of shotgun only states or states with shotgun only areas, they will call it a rifle.
The state can NEVER call it a rifle. States are free to decide that these models offer an unsporting advantage, so can change their law to reflect that "shotguns" with these certain characteristics are not allowed, or they can make "disallowed lists" that prohibits these specific firearms, and I would have no problem with that, but
THE STATE CANNOT SAY THAT A CLASSIFIED SHOTGUN IS NOW CLASSIFIED AS A RIFLE!
States regulate all kinds of stuff, 6" barrel minimums, caliber minimums, kinetic energy minimums, poundage maximums and minimums on bows, etc etc. That's all well and good, but they cannot say that a shotgun is now a rifle.
Here's an example - several years ago, I was planning a hunting trip to a "non-rifle" state. They allowed shotguns and handguns, just no rifles. Now, I found out in my research that they didn't allow single shot rifles with barrels over 14" (maybe 12"?), eliminating contender or stryker type specialty pistols. THEY DIDN'T TRY SAYING THAT A HANDGUN WAS A RIFLE - but they deemed that there was an unsporting advantage for long barreled break or bolt action handguns, so they disallowed them BY REGULATION. They did not reclassify them as a different type of firearm.
A rifled barreled, brass cartridge shotgun might get disallowed, but it's still a shotgun - not a rifle.