Why are 14" shot guns illegal? Someone had an antique one on Antique Roadshow tonight

[KittyWampus]

and the owner had to write to the ATF for them to verify it was an artifact and thus legal to own and sell.

But why are 14" shot guns not okay?

[Ikonoklast]

1. It's considered a 'sawed-off' barrel, making concealment easier.

And the only thing it is good for is using it as an anti-personnel weapon at short range.

[mainegreen]

2. Short, thus easy to hide. Maybe sawed of shotgun-style length issues?

[jmowreader]

3. Because most mobsters aren't all that big

You can hide a 14-inch sawn-off shotgun under any suit coat, but you'd have to be the kind of guy you don't want to meet in a dark alley some night to do that with an 18-inch sawn-off.

[derby378]

4. Short-barrelled shotguns and rifles

Simply put, any barrel 16" or longer is "civilian legal." If you want to legally own a rifle or shotgun with a shorter barrel, you need clearance from the BATFE - provided your state doesn't have its own laws forbidding possession.

Part of the reason is concealment. Propulsion plays a role, too. You'll notice that most of our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan carry rifles with barrels measuring 14.5" or shorter. The barrel length is great for close-quarter battles where you don't have much space to take cover in, but the 5.56 round used in such rifles expends a lot of its power coming out of the muzzle because of the shorter barrel length, resulting in reduced penetration and (according to some military experts) reduced effectiveness in killing as opposed to if the soldiers were using barrels 16-20" in length.

There's a similar dynamic with short-barrelled shotguns - worthless at any real distance, but they're sometimes even worse than machine guns at close range. The buckshot disperses from the muzzle in a wider pattern, resulting in more horrific wounds for the person who winds up on the business end of the shotgun.

[krispos42]

5. I think it's 18" minimum for a shotgun

n/t

[old mark]

6. There was a law written in 1936 controlling the interstate transportation

of weapons supposedly most used by the gangsters of the day. It was the first federal gun control law,AFAIK. Until then you could buy Thompson submachine guns - full auto - at any hardware store that carried them.
Several makers made 14" barrel shotguns with pistol grips and they are now collectors pieces.
Rifle barrels must be a t least 16", shotguns at least 18" (overall length 24", I think).

mark

[petronius]

7. Because ducks might buy them, and start shooting back

Anything over 18" is too clumsy for a waterfowl to handle - so this law keeps hunters safe...

:silly:

[Gormy Cuss]

8. You're quackers.

:D