Questions/legality around semi-auto shotgun capacity in MA

[drgrant]

There is nothing in the law that says "it is OK to possess something that is otherwise a felony to possess because a gun shop sold it to you." When it comes to possessing something that is a felony to possess, "it's not my fault" isn't going to save you from a felony conviction and a lifetime prohibition.

I agree but the odds of someone getting rapped for this in MA (a tube fed shotgun capacity violation) are between slim and powerball level.

Part of this is it's not difficult for an attorney to show how poorly written the law is. It doesn't even dictate cartridge size(s) for shotguns.

Potentially BTW with Aguila minishells or other short shells (ive seen 2.5in ones too from federal) every 5 round shotgun is illegal. The law is silent on the constitution of the ammunition.

 

[paul73]

every 5 round shotgun is illegal

Now that is how mass panic begins.

 

[StevieP]

if they'll sell it to you there's nothing against you buying or owning it.

 

[CMEBoston]

Nope. To be “preban” for a large capacity feeding device, it needs to have been lawfully possessed on Sep 13, 1994.

The 8/1 date only applies to the “assault” weapons themselves. The larger capacity feeding devices (which an internal fixed 6+ tube would be) are handled with the old preban date.

Just realized all my heirloom shotguns are “pre ban”
Imagine the extension I could put on my 26” Remington model 11 sweet sixteen?

 

[Mark from ?]

The Communists of MA have decided that "how it looks to them" will be the new standard for determining the "legality" of every firearm.

The Salem Witch Trials have returned......if it looks like a Witch......hang them......

Burn...not hang. or maybe that's Monty Python.....which is about as serious as MA law is right now.

These clowns aren't going to nail anybody on a tube fed shotgun when they have no fxcking idea what the law they just passed means, and from what it sounds like are balking at any long gun lists or whatever because they are too lazy to do the work. The only worry is they are so fxcking lazy they just make all new semi auto's illegal at some point. Which will get douched by the SC...but they are willing to wait it out and screw you Im sure. Glidden is on it! No worries.!

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Ultimately, they don't defy the assault weapons ban but they do defy the laws at a state level in terms of what constitutes a "large capacity feeding device"--there's no argument around this. People seem to suggest that these things aren't mutually exclusive and that you have to violate both statutes in order to be committing a felony, but they 100% are in the eyes of a judge and a courtroom, especially in this virtue signaling disaster of a state. on me for my purchase? Doesn't the store assume all liability for the sale? I'm all for being a red-blooded American man, but don't want conjugal visits to be the only thing I have to look forward to in life.

It is unlikely to make it to trial since this is the kind of thing where a CWOF is likely for the otherwise clean person, and the possibility of a confiction and federal PP status will disuade almost all TOPs (Target of Prosecutions) to take the deal.

 

[CMEBoston]

Burn...not hang. or maybe that's Monty Python.....which is about as serious as MA law is right now.

These clowns aren't going to nail anybody on a tube fed shotgun when they have no fxcking idea what the law they just passed means, and from what it sounds like are balking at any long gun lists or whatever because they are too lazy to do the work. The only worry is they are so fxcking lazy they just make all new semi auto's illegal at some point. Which will get douched by the SC...but they are willing to wait it out and screw you Im sure. Glidden is on it! No worries.!

No witches were burned in the US
Hanged and stoned

 

[HARRYM]

Burn...not hang. or maybe that's Monty Python.....which is about as serious as MA law is right now.

These clowns aren't going to nail anybody on a tube fed shotgun when they have no fxcking idea what the law they just passed means, and from what it sounds like are balking at any long gun lists or whatever because they are too lazy to do the work. The only worry is they are so fxcking lazy they just make all new semi auto's illegal at some point. Which will get douched by the SC...but they are willing to wait it out and screw you Im sure. Glidden is on it! No worries.!

I was almost 15 when the Leftists came for most guns in 1968. My late Dad said they wanted to ban most everything. There were no 2A rights organizations really and the NRA was basically still promoting shooting sports and gun safety types of things. Fortunately the country was more right of center at that time and the damage the 1968 gun act did was not what many originally feared. From that dust up the NRA realized that they needed to focus on gun rights and that's how the ILA started in the mid seventies.

We all knew back then that just like in Zulu the Leftist's retreat would only be temporary and they would be back, again and again.

Just as the NRA knew the ILA was needed the Leftists knew they gave it a shot but it was too big of a bite of the apple. So from that the Leftists created the good gun, bad gun, safe gun, violent gun, no longer a sporting arm but a weapon. Little bites.

MA Politicians don't care what their language reads. Their goal remains the same and that is the banning of all firearms. Even though MA is now considered to have the strictest gun restrictions in the nation we would be foolish to believe that they are now done with the bans and restrictions.

 

[Mark from ?]

No witches were burned in the US
Hanged and stoned

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/TgCXfd4Fswk?si=4rgBb6W6StZd3g_v

 

[drgrant]

Now that is how mass panic begins.

No it doesn't, because nobody cares. I doubt this will change as shotgun tube capacity has been ignored by a large # of dealers since time eternal.

 

[wcorey]

Just realized all my heirloom shotguns are “pre ban”
Imagine the extension I could put on my 26” Remington model 11 sweet sixteen?

Sad to say that the gun being preban is meaningless in this instance, it's the extension tube that would need to be preban, two separate things by the law...

But no, wait... Now that I think of it, if the tube is preban then I guess it could be extended. So if I modify an extended preban tube to fit a newer gun it should be good to go (assuming it still fits up to the original gun).
So then the state would have to prove my tube isn't preban on any gun, good luck with that.
No, I'm not going there...

 

[Grendizer138]

I’m a SG novice and was fiddling with a Bennelli over the weekend and couldn’t figure out why the hell I couldn’t get more than 2 rounds in the tube. Good God this stuff is stupid.

 

[M1911]

I’m a SG novice and was fiddling with a Bennelli over the weekend and couldn’t figure out why the hell I couldn’t get more than 2 rounds in the tube. Good God this stuff is stupid.

Tim? Is that you?


View: https://youtu.be/FhpiCVYfj_M?si=exTPSeT9yxl61t7y

 

[CrackPot]

Black and white, 5rds is the limit with semi auto shotguns.

Under the pre 10/2 law, there was a contradiction in the definition of LCFD and LCW where a pump or lever shotgun with a tube over 5rds was not a LCW but contained a LCFD. This practically meant you could not prosecute. So shops have always sold over 5rd for pump. Many did not understand why so did the same with semi auto. No legal confusion there.

The new law gives an unambiguous exemption to pump shotguns to have tubes over 5rds.

The issue of different shell sizes of course is an issue. The common belief is that you base tube size on the maximum shell size the gun is designed for. Of course this means mini shells exceed capacity. Should you have a loaded semi with over 5rd and get "caught", I would expect a charge.

 

[Hardwired]

Didn’t Federal Court already rule on arbitrary round limits in the NY Safe Act?

Meaningless I guess.

THE SEVEN ROUND LIMIT IS OVERTURNED​

Finally, the Court overturned one of the Act’s more controversial provisions – the “seven round limit” on the number of rounds that can be legally loaded into a magazine (which, under the Act, can have up to a ten round capacity). The Court found that the State had failed to adequately explain its decision to set the maximum number at seven rounds, a figure which the Court believed to be a “largely arbitrary number” unrelated to any legitimate governmental interest in public safety or crime prevention. The Court observed that those intent on doing harm with a firearm are unlikely to adhere to the seven round limit, leading to what the Court characterized as “the possibility of a disturbing perverse effect, pitting the criminal with a fully loaded magazine against the law-abiding citizen limited to seven rounds.” Absent a persuasive rational explaining how public safety and crime prevention would be served by prohibiting law abiding citizens from loading a full ten rounds into their (legal) ten round capacity magazines, the Court found this part of the Act to be unconstitutional.

 

[Mesatchornug]

I’m a SG novice and was fiddling with a Bennelli over the weekend and couldn’t figure out why the hell I couldn’t get more than 2 rounds in the tube. Good God this stuff is stupid.

There's usually a plug in the tube to limit the gun to 3 rounds (2+1) for waterfowl hunting. When you buy the gun, you can take off the endcap and drop it out. This will return you to design capacity.