Expert: Dean Speir - 1/2/2007

Question
Dear Dean,

I live in Indiana and have stumbled upon a situation which, to me, is a gray area at best.  I've seen a "Super Shorty" shotgun advertised for sale, which looks like an interesting piece to own.

See:  http://www.impactguns.com/store/SER-SS12.html

The website claims it is an AOW because it comes from the factory in a pistol grip/short barrel arrangement.  In Indiana, sawed off shotguns are ILLEGAL; however, AOW's are not.  Indiana's definition of a legal shotgun is a barrel length 18" or longer and an overall length over 26".  Furthermore, their definition of a "shotgun" includes "a weapon designed to be fired from the shoulder."

The Super Shorty is under 26" overall and has a barrel length much shorter than 18", but it is not designed to be fired from the shoulder, and it comes form the manufacturer this way.

Can a Hoosier legally purchase a weapon such as this and be legal in the State of Indiana?  Is there paperwork that comes with the weapon and states that it is an AOW or a handgun and not a short-barreled or sawed-off shotgun?

I understand a Federal Stamp would have to be purchased with the weapon and a Federal Background Check done.

Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi, Doug…

The first source of any reliable information about a particular state's firearms laws should, logically, be the state itself, don't you think? (Start here: http://www.in.gov/isp/firearms/ and take a look at §35-47-5-4.1, Sawed-off shotgun).

As for the paperwork accompanying the weapon, wouldn't you agree that the best place to ask that sort of question would be the manufacturer or the selling entity?

I think that most here at All Experts are perfectly willing to share our knowledge within specific areas, but when one is dealing with issues of legality, if you get into trouble, do you really think that a law enforcement official or a judge is going to be impressed with your assertion that "A guy on All Experts.com told me…?"

Also, the link and information I provided you above came from a simple 'Net search, one you could have done yourself. I'm confident that you could have navigated to http://www.ask.com/ or http://www.google.com/ and done your own research, aren't you?

Don't be lazy… anyone considering the acquisition of a 12-gauge AOW is almost by definition an adventurous type, so get out there and contact the most reliable sources of the information ytou seek, in this case Indiana State Police and Impact Guns.