The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Hide > The Dave McCracken Memorial Shotgun Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old January 12, 2005, 11:05 PM   #1
BCannell
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 12, 2005
Posts: 136
SPAS-15 imports

I've read that only about 180 or 190 SPAS-15 shotguns were imported to the United States before the importation ceased to be legal. Does anyone here know what, specifically, it violated to be so affected? Is it still illegal to import one?
BCannell is offline  
Old January 13, 2005, 12:37 AM   #2
Casp_A
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 12, 2004
Posts: 495
Not sure what makes them banned, whether by name or by features, however they are still illegal to import. If someone started making them state-side in the same configuration though, I think they'd be perfectly legal.
__________________
Johnny was a chemist's son, but Johnny is no more. What Johnny thought was H2O was H2SO4.
Casp_A is offline  
Old January 19, 2005, 03:17 PM   #3
shaggy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 9, 2004
Posts: 1,519
The relevant statute you're looking for is 18 USC 925(d)(3)
The Attorney General shall authorize a firearm or ammunition to be imported or brought into the United States or any possession thereof if the firearm or ammunition—

(3) is of a type that does not fall within the definition of a firearm as defined in section 5845(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and is generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes, excluding surplus military firearms, except in any case where the Attorney General has not authorized the importation of the firearm pursuant to this paragraph, it shall be unlawful to import any frame, receiver, or barrel of such firearm which would be prohibited if assembled;
Thus, all that was really necessary was to ban its importation was a finding by the AG that the SPAS was not particularly suitable for sporting purposes.
shaggy is offline  
Old January 19, 2005, 06:52 PM   #4
Casp_A
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 12, 2004
Posts: 495
Yup, that would be it. What sucks is that Franchi actually called the series "Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun" for that exact reason. Guess it didn't help that much.
__________________
Johnny was a chemist's son, but Johnny is no more. What Johnny thought was H2O was H2SO4.
Casp_A is offline  
Old January 20, 2005, 11:06 AM   #5
fed168
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 15, 2000
Posts: 1,040
Doesn't that fall into the destructive device category now?
fed168 is offline  
Old January 20, 2005, 11:27 AM   #6
shaggy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 9, 2004
Posts: 1,519
Quote:
Doesn't that fall into the destructive device category now?
No, BATF only reclassified the USAS-12, Striker-12, and the Streetsweeper as DD's.
shaggy is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:09 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.05627 seconds with 8 queries