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Old March 27, 2011, 11:53 AM   #18
Bartholomew Roberts
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Join Date: June 12, 2000
Location: Texas and Oklahoma area
Posts: 8,462
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeedWhacker
However, those can be added post purchase, even to an 1100 (I'd like to compare apples to apples in a loose sense here).
Not if they turn the firearm in question into a destructive device. Again, under current gun control laws, any firearm (domestic or imported) with a bore greater than 0.50" which does not have a suitable sporting purposes is a destructive device and subject to regulation under the 1934 NFA.

The ATF Study on the Importability of Certain Shotguns says that the following features indicate a shotgun is not suitable for sporting purposes:

(1) Folding, telescoping or collapsible stocks
(2) Bayonet lugs
(3) Flash suppressors
(4)magazines over 5 rounds; or a drum magazine
(5) grenade launcher mounts
(6) integrated rail systems (other than on top of the receiver or barrel)
(7) light enhancing devices
(8) excessive weight (greater than 10lbs for 12ga and smaller)
(9) excessive bulk (greater than 3" in width and 4" in depth)
(10) forward pistol grips or other protruding parts designed or used for gripping the shotgun with the shooter's extended hand

"Therefore shotguns containing any of these features are not particularly suitable for nor readily adaptable to generally recognized sporting purposes..."

Note that is includes even one feature from the above list and it applies to all shotguns, regardless of how the action works, etc.

Quote:
A Saiga is specifically built to be a detachable magazine fed semi automatic firearm. A Rem 1100 is tubular fed. While there are bolt shotguns out there that were designed to be fed from a detachable magazine, they are more specifically "sporting use" as per the ATF.
The study also found:

"In regard to sporting purposes, the working group found no appreciable difference between integral tube magazines and detachable box magazines. Each type allowed for rapid loading, reloading and firing of ammunition."

As you can see from the ATF's own study - it doesn't matter whether the magazine is detachable or tubular. If it holds more than 5 rounds, it is non-sporting. The action is also irrelevant because it is the bore size that makes it a destructive device once it is determined to be non-sporting.

Quote:
They may attempt to use it as justification to render (as many paranoid people believe) the Saiga 12 a destructive device.
As imported, the Saiga 12 IS a suitable for sporting purposes as discussed in this study. It is only when modified that it becomes non-suitable. The big problem here is that even if ATF says that this "non-sporting" criteria only applies to importable shotguns, we still have 18 USC 921 (4)(B):

Quote:
Originally Posted by 18 USC 921
"(4) The term “destructive device” means—

(B) any type of weapon (other than a shotgun or a shotgun shell which the Attorney General finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes) by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, and which has any barrel with a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter; and

(C) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into any destructive device described in subparagraph (A) or (B) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled. "
So not only would a magazine tube extension for an 1100 have the potential to turn a shotgun into a destructive device, you could potentially be charged under 921 (4)(C) for owning a destructive device just for possessing a shotgun rail system, tube extension or similar type of item.

There is nothing paranoid about this. All you have to do is read the current law and read how ATF is proposing to change it in relation to imported shotguns and you should have big red flags going up.
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