# The OFFICIAL Gun Thread.

**URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/the-official-gun-thread/242496
**Category:** Shift518 Off Topic
**Created:** [March 1, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/the-official-gun-thread/242496 "2009-03-01T21:19:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 1247

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### Author: ![KillerBlackbird](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/killerblackbird/32/6525_2.png) [@KillerBlackbird](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/KillerBlackbird)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/the-official-gun-thread/242496/1247 "2012-01-01T09:04:29Z")

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> [@FS: 1993 Honda Civic Hatch 5spd](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/fs-1993-honda-civic-hatch-5spd/47196/36):
>
> BTW, does anyone know off top of of there head the legal barrel length in NY? Is it 18" or 18.5"? Also could a pipe cutter you use to cut like copper and shit work to shorten a barrel?

Is it a rifle or shotgun?

Legal minimum shotgun length is 18"  
For a rifle it is 16"

Anything shorter and it involves a tax stamp and some paperwork (at least here in VT anyway).

> **[Sawed-off shotgun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawed-off_shotgun)**
>
> A sawed-off shotgun (also called a scattergun, sawn-off shotgun, short-barrelled shotgun, shorty, or boom stick) is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel—typically under 18 inches (46 cm)—and often a pistol grip instead of a longer shoulder stock. Despite the colloquial term, barrels do not, strictly speaking, have to be shortened with a saw. Barrels can be manufactured at shorter lengths as an alternative to traditional, longer barrels. This makes them easier to transport and conceal due...

> Under the [National Firearms Act (NFA)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Act), it is illegal for a private citizen to possess a sawed-off modern smokeless powder shotgun; a shotgun with a barrel length shorter than 18 inches (46 cm) or an overall length shorter than 26 inches (66 cm), without a tax-paid registration from the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Alcohol,_Tobacco,_Firearms_and_Explosives), requiring a background check and either a $200 or $5 tax for every transfer, depending upon the specific manufacturing circumstances of the particular sawed-off modern shotgun being transferred. Short-barreled muzzleloading blackpowder shotguns, in contrast, are not illegal by federal law and require no tax-stamped permit, although they may be illegal under state law. As with all NFA regulated firearms, a new tax stamp must be purchased before every transfer. Inter-state transfers must be facilitated through a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) while intrastate transfers may be between two persons.[[8]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawed-off_shotgun#cite_note-7)  
> In the US, shotguns originally manufactured without shoulder stocks, having their barrels shortened to under 18 inches, are classified as an “[Any Other Weapon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Any_Other_Weapon)” by the BATFE and have a $5 transfer tax, if they are manufactured by a maker possessing the appropriate [Class 2 Special Occupational Taxpayer Federal Firearms License](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_2_Special_Occupational_Taxpayer_Federal_Firearms_License). However, in order to convert an existing shoulder-stocked shotgun to a short-barreled shotgun or an existing pistol-grip-only shotgun to an “Any Other Weapon”, a private citizen must pay the standard $200 NFA tax.[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawed-off_shotgun#cite_note-USC26-0)

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