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What about Any Other Weapons?

Krinkovliu

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It seems that all the discussion on this forum is about handguns. Does the Wa State open carry laws apply only to handguns, or do they apply to other types of firearms that could be carried without raising undue concern by the public. Specifically, I have a 20 gauge any other weapon with a 7 inch barrel that was made from a Mossburg Cruiser ("shotgun" with pistol grip only - no stock). There are some folks who have made holsters for this type of firearm. I feel that this would be a superior self defense weapon. Any problems with carrying this?
 

nathan

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Rifles and shotguns must be unloaded in vehicles even if you have a CPL. Loading and unloading your firearm when you exit or enter your vehicle is not ideal.

Technically, though, you may open carry any firearm.
 

sv_libertarian

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Krinkovliu wrote:
It seems that all the discussion on this forum is about handguns. Does the Wa State open carry laws apply only to handguns, or do they apply to other types of firearms that could be carried without raising undue concern by the public. Specifically, I have a 20 gauge any other weapon with a 7 inch barrel that was made from a Mossburg Cruiser ("shotgun" with pistol grip only - no stock). There are some folks who have made holsters for this type of firearm. I feel that this would be a superior self defense weapon. Any problems with carrying this?
Unless you owned this thing in Washington before 1994, you can't have it here, even registered.
http://search.leg.wa.gov/pub/textsearch/ViewRoot.asp?Action=Html&Item=1&X=518181602&p=1
 

Bear 45/70

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Krinkovliu wrote:
It seems that all the discussion on this forum is about handguns. Does the Wa State open carry laws apply only to handguns, or do they apply to other types of firearms that could be carried without raising undue concern by the public. Specifically, I have a 20 gauge any other weapon with a 7 inch barrel that was made from a Mossburg Cruiser ("shotgun" with pistol grip only - no stock). There are some folks who have made holsters for this type of firearm. I feel that this would be a superior self defense weapon. Any problems with carrying this?
I believe those weapons are now NFA weapons which makes them illegal in Washington You can't cut down a shotgun or a rifle to make a pistol. Rifle minimum of 16" and shotgun minimum of 18". There is an overall length minimum too.
 

Krinkovliu

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Guys, the only NFA weapons that are illegal in Washington are: short barrel rifles, short barrel shotguns, and full firearms that were not grandfathered (ie before 1994). You can own silencers (but not use them) and Any Other Weapons, and I think Destructive Devices (e.g., anti tank gun). I had an AOW legally tranferred to me in 1999 and another one transferred in 2003. All of these transfers received approval by ATF which checks with the state AG to ensure that there is nothing illegal about ownership.

Not that I would do this, but my other AOW is a 5.45 Krinkov which is real easy to load and unload since it is magazine fed. Pulling a Krinkov on a couple of scum bags in Seattle's University District would be fun to do but for all practical purposes a nice handgun would do just as well. On the other hand a 20 gauge AOW with a 7 inch barrel would really make them c**p in their pants.
 

Jim675

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My humble guess is that legally you're OK on foot. I don't know of a prohibition on AOW. I wouldn't be a bit surprised that if you actually had occasion to use it you would need very high quality legal help fast.

Regardless, if your crystal ball is working and you can give me 30 minutes' notice before pulling that on a BG in the U District I'd love to see it! I'll even take pictures of the flames it throws for your scrapbook!

edit: spelling
 

sv_libertarian

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If the AOW is made from an existing rifle or shotgun, then it is considered a short barrel shotgun in this state.

If it left the factory as an AOW, I believe there is an AG opinion that they would be legal then...
 

Krinkovliu

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sv_libertarian: The Mossberg 500 left the factory as a "Cruiser". It did not have a stock; it came only with a pistol grip. It was not a kit gun with aremovable pistol grip and removable stock. Consequently, it met the the ATF definition of not being a "shotgun" which is intended to be fired from the shoulder; there was no way to shoot a Cruiser from the shoulder. For a short period of time recently, the current Wa State AG was defining AOWs such as mine as a "short barrel shotgun" but the legal definition prevailed - so long as the smooth bore firearm was never a "shotgun" (intended to be fired from the shoulder) it can be converted into an Any Other Weapon.

Here is a link to www.serbu.com which makes an Any Other Weapon similar to the one I own.

http://www.serbu.com/top/superShorty.php

As you can read, it is made from a Mossberg Cruiser which left the factory without a stock - just a pistol grip.

Again, I have an ATF Form 4 with a $5 NFA stamp which approved the transfer of the AOW to me. I believe that this federal agency will not approve a transfer if it is violation of local law.
 

Bear 45/70

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Krinkovliu wrote:
sv_libertarian: The Mossberg 500 left the factory as a "Cruiser". It did not have a stock; it came only with a pistol grip. It was not a kit gun with aremovable pistol grip and removable stock. Consequently, it met the the ATF definition of not being a "shotgun" which is intended to be fired from the shoulder; there was no way to shoot a Cruiser from the shoulder. For a short period of time recently, the current Wa State AG was defining AOWs such as mine as a "short barrel shotgun" but the legal definition prevailed - so long as the smooth bore firearm was never a "shotgun" (intended to be fired from the shoulder) it can be converted into an Any Other Weapon.

Here is a link to http://www.serbu.com which makes an Any Other Weapon similar to the one I own.

http://www.serbu.com/top/superShorty.php

As you can read, it is made from a Mossberg Cruiser which left the factory without a stock - just a pistol grip.

Again, I have an ATF Form 4 with a $5 NFA stamp which approved the transfer of the AOW to me. I believe that this federal agency will not approve a transfer if it is violation of local law.
The cruiser is still classed as a shotgun, stock or no. A shotgun with a stock removed and a pistol grip added is still a shotgun. The shorty is based on a 500. Mossberg sends them the parts, not assembled guns and then they builds them. Any other way is illegal. You can carryit but don't be suprised if SWAT shows up.
 

Bear 45/70

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Krinkovliu wrote:
Again, I have an ATF Form 4 with a $5 NFA stamp which approved the transfer of the AOW to me. I believe that this federal agency will not approve a transfer if it is violation of local law.
Yeah and the IRS never screws up either. You have way to much faith in government agencies to believe they care whether they do their jobs right. It's gonna be you who geyts screwed, not them.
rolleyes.gif
 

Krinkovliu

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Guys:

I am not going to get into a lengthy discussion about the legality of an Any Other Weapon. However, I leave you with this:

http://www.atg.wa.gov/opinion.aspx?section=archive&id=14312

This is the opinion/ruling of the current AG which distinguishes between short barrel shotguns, which are illegal, and any other weapons which are legal.

I would suggest that if you have any questions call Wades Eastside Guns in Bellevue which is a class 3 dealer and which offers any other weapons for sale. Also, at a recent Puyullup gun show Discount Guns had a Serbu shorty for sale for which requires a $5 transfer fee (NFA).

If you want to continue to believe that this is illegal be my guest. I will continue to add to my NFA collection by buying more Any Other Weapons.

I believe that anyone who wishes to buy a short barrel Any Other Weapon to go through the proper channels (e.g., completing ATF Form 4, checking with local law enforcement...) and find out for himself whether the firearm is illegal in Washington State. As I said, I have two ATF approved transfers of Any Other Weapons plus a silencer all in Washington State in the past decade.
 

just_a_car

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Yes Krink, AOW's and Sound Suppressors are very much legal in WA, as you already know. Unfortunately, we can't use the latter, just own them :)banghead:).

If I had the money to buy a Serbu Shorty (that means I bought a whole bunch of other stuff first), then I would certainly do so for the neat-ness of being able to CC a shotgun.
 

Agent 47

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Jeeze people come on. AOW's are perfectly legal in Washington and they are not short barreled shotguns. A SBS is a shot gun that left the factory with a stock in place and later had the barrel cut down to less than 18" If it left the factory without a stock it can be re-registered as an AOW if you want to put a short barrel on it. As for the legality of carrying it, No law against it so it's legal. The only danger you may run into is, I am sure you already guessed from reading the opinions of some on this thread, Is many people and LEO's couldn't tell the difference between an AOW anda SBS if it was shoved up their butt so I would carry that AG opinion around with you if you open carry it. I do think you would be forced to open carry as the WA permit is a CPL and not a CWP so you would need to make sure your method of carry is RCW 9.41.270 compliant. (Keep State V. Spencer in mind)
 

expvideo

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just_a_car wrote:
Yes Krink, AOW's and Sound Suppressors are very much legal in WA, as you already know. Unfortunately, we can't use the latter, just own them :)banghead:).

If I had the money to buy a Serbu Shorty (that means I bought a whole bunch of other stuff first), then I would certainly do so for the neat-ness of being able to CC a shotgun.

I am starting to agree with Agent47's points that he made to me about that law. It says that we can't "use any device or contrivance to muffle the report of a firearm". Since there is no exception for law enforcement agencies, and since many of the agencies in WA use silencers for their SWAT teams (even at public ranges such as Sam's), the law must be interpretted that a registered suppressor is neither a "device" nor a "contrivance", which means that unless they want to go ahead and charge all of those cops with gross misdemeanors, the only illegal silencers are non-registered ones, such as using a coke bottle to silence a .22.

So, in effect, it should be legal to use a legal and registered sound suppressor in WA state, but I don't want to be the one to make the case law on this one :D
 

rysa

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Way off topic, but we should start a movement to have that say "use any illegaldevice or contrivance to muffle the report of a firearm". I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread talk.
 

expvideo

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rysa wrote:
Way off topic, but we should start a movement to have that say "use any illegaldevice or contrivance to muffle the report of a firearm". I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread talk.
Actually, I would change it to "use any device or contrivance to muffle the report of a firearm, in the commission of a felony", or just get rid of the law all together, since it benefits no one, except for legislators who have seen too many movies about assassins and don't know the first thing about firearms.
 

just_a_car

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expvideo, I agree and I've said before that Agent 47 has a darn good argument, but since there's no test case and there's an AG opinion that says they may not be used, then I'm not really willing to be the "test case".

Honestly, they should just change it to "any unregistered device or contrivance...", as legal suppressors must be registered under the NFA.

Plus, by the wording of the law, I do think that the police departments ARE in violation of that law, due to a legal suppressor being a "device", whereas the coke bottle would be a "contrivance".
 

expvideo

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just_a_car wrote:
expvideo, I agree and I've said before that Agent 47 has a darn good argument, but since there's no test case and there's an AG opinion that says they may not be used, then I'm not really willing to be the "test case".

Honestly, they should just change it to "any unregistered device or contrivance...", as legal suppressors must be registered under the NFA.

Plus, by the wording of the law, I do think that the police departments ARE in violation of that law, due to a legal suppressor being a "device", whereas the coke bottle would be a "contrivance".

I think their strategy right now is to not touch it. Let it remain as law so that most people won't do it, and don't prosecute the people that do, because then the government can't do it anymore.
 

John Hardin

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expvideo wrote:
just_a_car wrote:
expvideo, I agree and I've said before that Agent 47 has a darn good argument, but since there's no test case and there's an AG opinion that says they may not be used, then I'm not really willing to be the "test case".

Honestly, they should just change it to "any unregistered device or contrivance...", as legal suppressors must be registered under the NFA.

Plus, by the wording of the law, I do think that the police departments ARE in violation of that law, due to a legal suppressor being a "device", whereas the coke bottle would be a "contrivance".
I think their strategy right now is to not touch it. Let it remain as law so that most people won't do it, and don't prosecute the people that do, because then the government can't do it anymore.
I didn't want to bring this up because it's drifting off topic, but...

I wasn't able to get my rep (O'Brien) to ask the AG about it. He did say this, though:

I will work on the issue this coming session, along with law enforcement, to fix any problems in the law.
Of course, I strongly suspect his interpretation of "problems in the law" is "there is no LEO exemption"... :X

I responded:

I ask you to consider the amendment I have proposed to you in the past:

http://www.impsec.org/~jhardin/wa_gun_laws_suppressor.txt

This would be a much better solution for all Washington citizens than merely adding a Law Enforcement Officer exemption to the existing law.
...but now he's asking for a specific situation where it's been a problem.

Does anybody else have a more amenable rep who could ask the AG about this?
 

kparker

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...but now he's asking for a specific situation where it's been a problem.

Every time I go to the range, it's a problem! I'm prevented from a useful hearing-protection technology by this useless law. I understand that court cases are sometimes hard to bring in terms of finding an actual, harmed plaintiff--but why should a legislator take the same approach?
 
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