FIREARM
Gun Control Act
(A) Any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon; (C) any firearm muffler or firearm silencer; or (D) any destructive device. Does not include an antique firearm.
National Firearms Act
(1) A shotgun having a barrel or barrels of less than 18” in length; (2) a weapon made from a shotgun if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26” or a barrel or barrels of less than 18” in length; (3) a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16” in length; (4) a weapon made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26” or a barrel or barrels of less than 16” in length; (5) “any other weapon,” (6) a machinegun; (7) any silencer; and (8) a destructive device. Does not include an antique firearm or any device (other than a machinegun or destructive device) which, although designed as a weapon, is found by reason of the date of its manufacture, value, design, and other characteristics is primarily a collector’s item and is not likely to be used as a weapon.
FIREARM PARTS
Gun Control Act
For import purposes, includes: (1) frames, receivers, receiver castings, forgings or stampings; (2) barrels; (3) barrel extensions; (4) bounting blocks (trunnions); (5) muzzle attachments; (6) bolts; (7) bolt carriers; (8) operating rods; (9) gas pistons; (10) trigger housings; (11) triggers; (12) hammers; (13) sears; (14) disconnectors; (15) buttstocks; (16) pistol grips; (17) forearms and handguards; (18) magazine bodies; (19) followers; (20) floorplates.
FIREARM RECEIVER or FRAME
Gun Control Act & National Firearms Act
That part of a firearm which provides housing for the hammer, bolt or breechblock, and firing mechanism, and which is usually threaded at its forward portion to receive the barrel.
HANDGUN
Gun Control Act
(A) A firearm which has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand; and (B) any combination of parts from which a firearm described in (A) can be assembled.
REVOLVER
Gun Control Act & National Firearms Act
A projectile weapon, of the pistol type, having a breechloading chambered cylinder so arranged that the cocking of the hammer or movement of the trigger rotates it and brings the next cartridge in line with the barrel for firing.
PISTOL
Gun Control Act & National Firearms Act
A weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and having (a) a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of, or permanently aligned with, the bore(s); and (b) a short stock designed to be gripped by one hand and at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore(s).
SEMIAUTOMATIC PISTOL
Gun Control Act
Any repeating pistol which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge.
RIFLE
Gun Control Act
A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of an explosive to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger.
National Firearms Act
A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed cartridge to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire a fixed cartridge.
SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLE
Gun Control Act
Any repeating rifle which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge.
SHORT-BARRELED RIFLE (SBR)
Gun Control Act
A rifle having one or more barrels less than 16” in length and any weapon made from a rifle (whether by alteration, modification, or otherwise) if such weapon, as modified, has an overall length of less than 26”.
SHOTGUN
Gun Control Act
A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of an explosive to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger.
National Firearms Act
A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of projectiles (ball shot) or a single projectile for each pull of the trigger, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire a fixed shotgun shell.
SEMIAUTOMATIC SHOTGUN
Gun Control Act
Any repeating shotgun which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge.
SHORT-BARRELED SHOTGUN (SBS)
Gun Control Act
A shotgun having one or more barrels less than 18” in length and any weapon made from a shotgun (whether by alteration, modification or otherwise) if such a weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26”.
MACHINE GUN
Gun Control Act
Any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. Also includes the frame or receiver of any such weapon, any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun, and any combination of parts from which a machine gun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person.
ANY OTHER WEAPON (AOW)
National Firearms Act
Any weapon or device capable of being concealed on the person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive, a pistol or revolver having a barrel with a smooth bore designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell, weapons with combination shotgun and rifle barrels 12” or more, less than 18” in length, from which only a single discharge can be made from either barrel without manual reloading, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire. Does not include a pistol or a revolver having a rifled bore, or rifled bores, or weapons designed, made, or intended to be fired from the shoulder and not capable of firing fixed ammunition.
FIREARM SILENCER or MUFFLER
Gun Control Act
Any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.
ANTIQUE FIREARM
Gun Control Act
(A) Any firearm (including any firearm with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system) manufactured in or before 1898; or (B) any replica of any firearm described in (A) if such replica (i) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition, or (ii) uses rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition which is no longer manufactured in the U.S. and which is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade; or (C) any muzzleloading rifle, muzzleloading shotgun or muzzle loading pistol, which is designed to use black powder, or a black powder substitute, and which cannot use fixed ammunition. Does not include any weapon which incorporates a firearm frame or receiver, any firearm which is converted into a muzzleloading weapon, or any muzzle loading weapon which can be readily converted to fire fixed ammunition by replacing the barrel, bolt, breechblock or any combination thereof.
National Firearms Act
Any firearm not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire ignition with fixed ammunition and manufactured in or before 1898 (including any matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system or replica thereof, whether actually manufactured before or after the year 1898) and also any firearm using fixed ammunition manufactured in or before 1898, for which ammunition is no longer manufactured in the U.S. and is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade.
CURIO or RELIC
Gun Control Act
Firearms which are of special interest to collectors by reason of some quality other than is associated with firearms intended for sporting use or as offensive or defensive weapons, including (a) firearms which were manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date, but not including replicas thereof; (b) firearms which are certified by the curator of a municipal, State or Federal museum which exhibits firearms to be curios or relics of museum interest; and (c) any other firearms which derive a substantial part of their monetary value from the fact that they are novel, rare, bizarre, or because of their association with some historical figure, period or event. Proof of qualification of a particular firearm under this category may be established by evidence of present value and evidence that like firearms are not available except as collector’s items, or that the value of like firearms available in ordinary commercial channels is substantially less.
COLLECTOR’S ITEM
National Firearms Act
A firearm or device, which although originally designed as a weapon, is by reason of the date of its manufacture, value, design, and other characteristics primarily a collector’s item and is not likely to be used as a weapon. A person who desires to obtain a determination under that provision of law shall follow the procedures relating to destructive device determinations, and shall include information as to date of manufacture, value, design and other characteristics which would sustain a finding that the firearm or device is primarily a collector’s item and is not likely to be used as a weapon.
UNSERVICEABLE FIREARM
Gun Control Act
A firearm which is incapable of discharging a shot by means of an explosive and is incapable of being readily restored to a firing condition.
AMMUNITION
Gun Control Act
Ammunition or cartridge cases, primers, bullets, or propellent powder designed for use in any firearm.
FIXED AMMUNITION
Gun Control Act
That self-contained unit consisting of the case, primer, propellant charge, and projectile or projectiles.
ARMOR-PIERCING AMMUNITION
Gun Control Act
(i) A projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium; or (ii) a full jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25% of the total weight of the projectile. Does not include shotgun shot required by Federal or State environmental or game regulations for hunting purposes, a frangible projectile designed for target shooting, a projectile primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes, or any other projectile or projectile core intended to be used for industrial purposes, including a charge used in an oil and gas well perforating device.
DESTRUCTIVE DEVICE
Gun Control Act
(A) Any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas, including (i) bomb, (ii) grenade, (iii) rocket having a propellant charge of more than 4 oz., (iv) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than 0.25 oz., (v) mine, or (vi) device similar to any of the devices described; (B) any type of weapon (other than a shotgun or a shotgun shell) by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, and which has any barrel with a bore of more than 0.5” in diameter; and (C) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into any destructive device described in subparagraph (A) or (B) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled. Does not include any device which is neither designed nor redesigned for use as a weapon; any device, although originally designed for use as a weapon, which is redesigned for use as a signaling, pyrotechnic, line throwing, safety, or similar device; surplus ordnance sold or loaned; or any other device which is not likely to be used as a weapon, is an antique, or is a rifle which the owner intends to use solely for sporting, recreational or cultural purposes.
National Firearms Act
1) Any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas (A) bomb, (B) grenade, (C) rocket having a propellent charge of more than 4 oz., (D) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than 0.25 oz., (E) mine, or (F) similar device; (2) any type of weapon by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, the barrel or barrels of which have a bore of more than 0.5” in diameter, except a shotgun or shotgun shell; and (3) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into a destructive device and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled. Does not include any device which is neither designed nor redesigned for use as a weapon; any device, although originally designed for use as a weapon, which is redesigned for use as a signaling, pyrotechnic, line throwing, safety, or similar device; surplus ordnance sold or loaned; or any other device which is not likely to be used as a weapon, or is an antique or is a rifle which the owner intends to use solely for sporting purposes.