PA Dealer question

[JoshIronshaft]

I checked with more than one dealer on this and I'm going to be doing my shockwave transfer with the dealer who confirmed he would not be requiring me to complete the PSP handgun transfer form.

[knight0334]

That's certainly an argument from the real world, but so far as PA law goes, "shotgun" is an undefined term, as I mentioned before when I researched a black powder SBS in PA. In that instance (mostly unrelated to this "probably not a shotgun") the Feds exclude blackpowder guns from their laws, but PA does not, so you probably can't register a blackpowder shotgun as an NFA SBS, while PA's POW statute probably includes it as a short-barreled (sawed-off) shotgun that's only exempt if "he complied with the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq.)", which is a philosophical question if the NFA doesn't apply (you're not really complying, but neither are you in violation of the NFA).

If I were to bet on a ruling, it'd be on the bore type being the determining factor.

It is what the Feds use, and it is what is used within the industry. The presence of a shoulder stock is used to distinguish sub-classes of shotguns(SBS, AOW, etc).

The ATF likes to mention that anything under 26" cant be a AOW, but no where in law does it say that. Cane Guns and Certain Combination Guns(smooth and rifled barrels on same gun within certain lengths) can exceed 26" and are certainly classified as AOW's.

I'd be very careful buying one of these <18" smoothbore but >26" OAL firearms because it could possibly come back to bite someone in the ass when the ATF changes their mind. Be sure to have $5 set aside and a prefilled-out Form 4 for when they want them all registered. ..possibly as much as $200 set aside since it would be the initial registry.