Anyone got the skinny on the ATF decision of a "firearm"? I got a friend who says it applies to guns that are 26" OAL, but I could have sworn it only applied to the shotguns similar to the Mossy shockwave that was not an AOW but not technically a normal shotty.

I think it goes by barrel length measured by a rod down the bore till it hits the close action. 16" and above for rifles and pistols less without stocks.

is there something new afoot?
 
from ATF 


Firearms - Guides - Importation & Verification of Firearms - National Firearms Act Definitions - Firearm

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Firearms VerificationNational Firearms Act DefinitionsFirearm26 U.S.C. Chapter 53For the purposes of the National Firearms Act, the following definitions are used to define and verify the different types of firearms:

• § 5845(d) — The term “Shotgun” means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder, and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger. [img width=550,height=117]https://www.atf.gov/n/n/n/sites/default/files/media/2015/12/nfa-shotgun-unaltered.jpg[/img]
• § 5845(a)(1) — The term “Firearm” means a shotgun having a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length;
  [img width=550,height=152]https://www.atf.gov/n/n/n/sites/default/files/media/2015/12/nfa-shotgun-shortened-barrel.jpg[/img]
• § 5845(a)(2) — The term “Firearm” means a weapon made from a shotgun if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length;
  [img width=550,height=179]https://www.atf.gov/n/n/n/sites/default/files/media/2015/12/nfa-shotgun-shortened-overall.jpg[/img]

rifles pretty much the same.

There is a GCA definition and a NFA definition. They are different. The ATF letter to Mossberg regarding the Shockwave http://www.mossberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Shockwave-Letter-from-ATF-3-2-17.pdf
points out the Shockwave is a GCA firearm but isn't a NFA firearm. Oklahoma law defines pistol, rifle, and shotgun but doesn't define firearm. By the Oklahoma definitions, the Shockwave is both a pistol and a sawed off shotgun as are Judges, Governors, and Contenders with 410 barrels. (The latter three are not Federal law shotguns because they have rifled barrels.) Oklahoma law criminalizes possession of sawed off shotguns unless they are transferred under the NFA. And of course Oklahoma law doesn't say that a sawed off shotgun has to have a barrel which was, well, sawed off.

 i have  a headache now.

That's correct and I think it confuses people when there are different definitions in the Fireams Act of 1971 and the SDA. I don't know why they can't keep thing simple and follow fed definitions on stuff.

Discount as we discussed.
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