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98-460: The Franchi SPAS-12 is a combat shotgun manufactured by Italian firearms company Franchi from 1979 to 2000. The SPAS-12 is a dual-mode shotgun, adjustable for semi-automatic or pump-action operation. The SPAS-12 was sold to military and police users worldwide, as well as on the civilian market. The appearance and intended purpose of the SPAS-12 initially led to its "military" designation as

196-485: A bayonet , and may be fitted with ventilated steel or plastic hand guards over the barrel to reduce the danger of a soldier burning their hand on the hot barrel during rapid fire. Riot shotguns are more likely to trade off increased magazine capacity for decreased size. For example, a combat model would be more likely to have a 51 cm (20 in) barrel and up to a 10-round capacity, while riot shotguns are often found with barrels of 35 to 46 cm (14 to 18 in) and

294-500: A door breaching system, the shotgun may be provided with a muzzle extension to allow it to be pressed firmly against the door while providing the correct standoff distance for optimum performance. While there are specialized rounds for breaching doors with minimal hazard to any occupants of the room, any type of round will do the job, though with some degradation of effectiveness and increased risk of collateral damage. In operations in Iraq,

392-405: A sawed-off shotgun or carbine. Guevara also mentions an improvised weapon developed by guerrillas consisting of a sawed-off 16-gauge shotgun provided with a bipod to hold the barrel at a 45-degree angle. Called the "M-16", this was loaded with a blank cartridge formed by removing the shot from a standard shotshell. A wooden rod was then placed in the barrel, with a Molotov cocktail attached to

490-677: A 2001 study the National Research Council in 2005, stated "evaluation of the short-term effects of the 1994 federal assault weapons ban did not reveal any clear impacts on gun violence outcomes." A book published by John Lott in 1998 found no impact of these bans on violent crime rates. Koper, Woods, and Roth studies focus on gun murders, while Lott's look at murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assaults. Unlike their work, Lott's research accounted for state assault weapon bans and twelve other different types of gun control laws. A 2002 study by Koper and Roth found that around

588-460: A 70 mm (2 3 ⁄ 4  inch) 12-gauge shell loaded with nine hardened 00 buckshot, with a diameter of about 8.4 mm (0.33 in). Buckshot is brutally effective at close ranges against unarmored targets—enough so that Germany issued a protest against its use in 1918. The only other types of ammunition currently in use in military shotguns are breaching rounds , which are either specially designed frangible rounds designed to destroy

686-424: A backup weapon, should the operator empty the magazine and not have time to reload. A sling to carry the shotgun is essential if it is to be used in conjunction with another weapon, so that the shotgun may be readily accessible. The bulk and weight of shotgun ammunition also limits its utility as a general-issue weapon. Weight per 100 rounds of an average 12-gauge 00-buck 2 + 3 ⁄ 4 -inch (70 mm) shell

784-524: A ban on the manufacture, sale, and possession of such weapons. US Representative Jack Brooks (D-TX), then chair of the House Judiciary Committee, tried unsuccessfully to remove the assault weapons ban section from the crime bill. The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) opposed the ban. In November 1993, NRA spokesman Bill McIntyre said that assault weapons "are used in only 1 per cent of all crimes". The low usage statistic

882-401: A bolt handle cut in the bolt body. The SPAS and LAW could only accept 2 3 ⁄ 4 " shells. The SAS-12 has a barrel length of 21 + 1 ⁄ 2  in (55 cm), an overall length of 41 + 1 ⁄ 2  in (105 cm), a weight of 7 lb 4 oz (3.3 kg) and a capacity of 8 rounds in the magazine + 1 in the chamber. The semi-automatic-only Franchi LAW-12 Model

980-439: A capacity of 5 to 8 rounds. The combat shotgun has evolved from its original role as a short range combat weapon into a wider role in modern times. With proper configuration, ammunition and training, the modern combat shotgun plays three roles: Effective range of the shotgun with standard buckshot is limited to about 20–30 meters. Slug rounds, if available, can extend the effective range of the shotgun to 100 meters (although this

1078-770: A combat shotgun. The SPAS-12 was designed from the ground up as a rugged military shotgun, and it was named the Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun. In 1990, Franchi renamed the shotgun the Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun, which allowed continued sales to the United States as a limited-magazine-capacity, fixed-stock model until 1994. Following the United States Federal Assault Weapons Ban , imports of SPAS-12 shotguns to

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1176-846: A door lock or hinge while minimizing the risk of damage to occupants of the room or very light (#9) birdshot, which accomplishes the same purpose. Shotgun slugs are currently under consideration by the US military as an anti-materiel round; the tendency of typical commercial shotgun slugs to deform on impact would render them illegal under the Hague Convention of 1899 and so a jacketed, hardened or sabot slug may be adopted. Less lethal rounds are used by U.S. troops serving as police forces in occupied territory; beanbag and rubber bullet rounds are commonly used to discourage looters and rioters. In military use, flechette ammunition has also been used in shotguns (primarily by special forces , such as its use by

1274-506: A few dozen shotshells can be carried practically. A Joint Service Combat Shotgun Program report on the lethality of shotguns in war states, in support of the use of the shotgun in warfare, "the probability of hitting a man-sized target with a shotgun was superior to that of all other weapons", and goes on to support this with statistics compiled by the British from the conflict in Borneo in

1372-423: A higher rate of fire than a pump shotgun, though controlling a heavy recoiling shotgun in rapid fire is difficult. The autoloading action is more suitable for firing from a prone position, as operation of a pump action moves the elbow normally used to support the shotgun, and it can more effectively be used one-handed, unlike pump actions which require two hands for effective cycling of the action. The pump shotgun

1470-501: A locked door with the shotgun and then immediately switch to the assault rifle to clear the room. According to the Army Rangers , their verdict was positive for this new type of breaching gun. In operations in post-invasion Iraq , US forces used their combat shotguns to clear out suspected insurgent hideouts in house to house fighting. One notable experimental shotgun used in limited numbers during Operation Enduring Freedom

1568-552: A one-feature test for a firearm to qualify as an assault weapon rather than the two-feature test of the defunct ban. The GOP Congressional delegation from Texas and the NRA condemned Feinstein's bill. On March 14, 2013, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a version of the bill along party lines. On April 17, 2013, AWB 2013 failed on a Senate vote of 40 to 60. On March 23, 2021, President Joe Biden proposed

1666-405: A prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms that were defined as assault weapons as well as certain ammunition magazines that were defined as large capacity . The 10-year ban was passed by the U.S. Congress on August 25, 1994, and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. The ban applied only to weapons manufactured after

1764-466: A rifle. In the same year, there were 12765 murders, of which only 322 were committed using a rifle. A 2015 study found a small decrease in the rate of mass shootings followed by increases beginning after the ban was lifted. The Columbine High School massacre , in which two shooters murdered 13 people, occurred in 1999 while the ban was in place. One of the shooters used a semi-automatic pistol and high-capacity magazines that were prospectively banned by

1862-420: A shell is fired, the pressure makes the bolt move rearward but the bolt will stop before opening as it deploys a single top locking lug. The gas vents into the barrel and the gas port is located towards the end of the barrel. From the gas port, the gas vents downwards into the gas block where it pushes the piston rearward. Because of the presence of the magazine tube and to avoid the use of a top-mounted gas system,

1960-458: A town hall forum, responding to questions from survivors of the 2018 Stoneman-Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. Several constitutional challenges were filed against provisions of the ban, but all were rejected by the courts. There were multiple attempts to renew the ban, but none succeeded. A February 2013 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report to Congress said that

2058-438: Is 4.65 kg (10.25 lb); for an average .223/5.56 round, weight per 100 rounds is about 1.22 kg (2.69 lb) or a 3.8:1 weight ratio of 12-gauge buckshot and 5.56×45mm. This means just eight 12-gauge buckshot shells weigh approximately the same (1 lb or 0.45 kg) as thirty 5.56×45mm rifle cartridges. While an individual soldier can easily carry several hundred rifle or pistol cartridges in box magazines, only

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2156-542: Is also dependent on the shotgun's sighting system; rifle sights and ghost ring sights will allow the average shooter to effectively engage human-sized targets at considerably greater distances than with a bead sight). Less lethal rounds vary, with ranges from 10 meters for rubber buckshot to 75 meters for rubber slugs. These less lethal munitions are the same type as used by police, and have served well in riot control situations, such as that in Kosovo in 2001. When used as

2254-534: Is inconclusive evidence of an effect on total homicides and firearm homicides. A 2014 study found no impacts on homicide rates with an assault weapon ban. A 2014 book published by Oxford University Press noted that "There is no compelling evidence that [the ban] saved lives," but added that "a more stringent or longer-lasting ban might well have been more effective." A 2019 DiMaggio et al. study looked at mass shooting data for 1981 to 2017 and found that mass-shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur during

2352-402: Is intended for competition or tactical use. A third safety type, a pistol grip safety similar to the later-developed SPAS-15, is known to have been developed by Franchi for the SPAS-12, however, the pistol grip safety was not offered for sale to the general public. A B-Square rail mount for optics was available for a short time in the 1990s as an aftermarket accessory. The barrel of the SPAS-12

2450-628: Is known as "the sporting purposes test". ) Following the enactment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, the ATF determined that "certain semiautomatic assault rifles could no longer be imported even though they were permitted to be imported under the 1989 'sporting purposes test' because they had been modified to remove all of their military features other than the ability to accept a detachable magazine" and so in April 1998, it "prohibited

2548-564: Is less prone to malfunction (particularly when dirty) than semi-automatic designs. Pump-action shotguns are also less expensive than their semi-automatic counterparts. Even so, semi-automatic shotguns such as the Benelli M1014 are currently seeing service in NATO-aligned armed forces. Combat shotguns typically have much shorter barrels than shotguns used for hunting. They usually have magazines of modified design to hold more than

2646-449: Is more versatile than the semiautomatic, as it will fire low powered less lethal munitions which lack sufficient pressure to cycle the action in an autoloading design. A pump shotgun, which does not rely on its ammunition for energy to cycle, operates normally with the lower powered ammunition, and provides utility in combat and riot control situations. In addition, the pump shotgun has an advantage in situations such as door breaching, where

2744-414: Is only roughly as effective as a small caliber handgun round, and offers very poor penetration against an armored target, the multiple projectiles increases the likelihood of one or more peripheral wounds. A number of compromises are involved in choosing a shot size: The most common type of ammunition used in combat shotguns, whether for military or law enforcement purposes, is buckshot , typically

2842-681: Is the XM26 for breaching doors or close-quarter battle (CQB). Combat shotguns have seen use in the Russo-Ukrainian War in the anti-drone role although their effectiveness remains unclear. The most common type of shotgun used for this purpose is the manually operated, slide-action/pump-action type like the Remington M870 or Mossberg 590A1 . The latter is currently the pump-action of choice for US armed forces, and both have seen service with other militaries. The pump-action type

2940-543: The George H. W. Bush administration banned the importation of foreign-made, semiautomatic rifles deemed not to have "a legitimate sporting use". It did not affect similar but domestically manufactured rifles. (The Gun Control Act of 1968 gives discretion to the Attorney General of the United States to choose whether to "authorize a firearm or ammunition to be imported or brought into the United States", under what

3038-450: The Obama administration 's desire to reinstate the ban. The mention came in response to a question during a joint press conference with DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart , discussing efforts to crack down on Mexican drug cartels . Attorney General Holder said that "there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on

Franchi SPAS-12 - Misplaced Pages Continue

3136-637: The SEALs in the Vietnam War ), but this is not common. Other experimental shotgun ammunition has been created, such as SCMITR , but none have been successful enough to be adopted. Due to the great flexibility of the shotgun, it is often used in non-offensive roles as well. The US Infantry, for example, offers a number of less lethal varieties of ammunition for use in the riot control role, and for door breaching with #9 birdshot, shotgun slugs , and specialized breaching rounds. Less-lethal options also include

3234-540: The Saiga-12 ), the tubular magazine is still dominant. This limits capacities; the current US pump shotgun issued, the Mossberg 590 , has a 5 or 8 shot capacity depending on barrel length. The tubular magazine does allow easy "topping off" (a tube-fed pump shotgun can be kept shouldered and aimed at a target and ready to fire while being loaded), so training emphasizes the need to load the magazine to full capacity whenever

3332-735: The Texas Revolution . However, buck and ball worked as well or better in standard or even rifled muskets. Buck and ball loads were used by both sides of the American Civil War , often by cavalry units. The development of repeating pump-action shotguns in the 1890s led to their use by the US Marines in the Philippines insurrections and by General "Black Jack" Pershing 's pursuit of Pancho Villa , and "riot" shotguns quickly gained favor with civilian police units, but

3430-458: The pump action , and various semi-automatic designs, mostly gas operation and recoil operation designs. The SPAS-12 , SPAS-15 , and Benelli M3 shotguns, combine the two, offering pump action or, when the pump is locked forwards, autoloading operation. There have also been a few fully automatic shotguns produced such as the AA-12 . The autoloading shotgun (semi or fully automatic) offers

3528-628: The "Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 was unsuccessfully challenged as violating several constitutional provisions" but that challenges to three constitutional provisions were easily dismissed. The ban did not make up an impermissible bill of attainder . It was not unconstitutionally vague . Also, it was ruled to be compatible with the Ninth Amendment by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals . Challenges to two other provisions took more time to decide. In evaluating challenges to

3626-485: The "purpose of the ban on possession has an 'evident commercial nexus '." The law was also challenged under the Equal Protection Clause . It was argued that it banned some semi-automatic weapons that were functional equivalents of exempted semi-automatic weapons and that to do so, based upon a mix of other characteristics, served no legitimate governmental interest. The reviewing court held that it

3724-506: The 1960s — Operation Claret . The buckshot typically used in a combat shotgun spreads out to a greater or lesser degree depending on the barrel choke , and can be effective at ranges as far as 70 m (77 yd). The delivery of the large number of projectiles simultaneously makes the shotgun the most effective short range weapon commonly used, with a hit probability 45% greater than a sub-machine gun (5-round burst), and twice as great as an assault rifle (3-round burst). While each pellet

3822-559: The 1994 to 2004 federal ban period, and that the ban was associated with a 0.1% reduction in total firearm homicide fatalities due to the reduction in mass-shootings' contribution to total homicides. A 2020 RAND Corporation review of five studies regarding the effects of state assault weapon bans concluded that evidence for an effect on mass shootings is inconclusive while limited evidence was found that high-capacity magazine bans may decrease mass shootings. A 2015 study by Mark Gius, professor of economics at Quinnipiac University , studied

3920-401: The 3 to 5 shots normal with sporting or hunting shotguns. Most combat shotguns have tubular magazines mounted underneath the barrel. These are identical to those of hunting shotguns, except for being longer to hold more ammunition. Some recent designs have detachable box magazines. Combat shotguns are mostly similar to the police riot shotgun . The military versions may have provisions to mount

4018-498: The Act. "Weapons banned were identified either by specific make or model (including copies or duplicates thereof, in any caliber), or by specific characteristics that slightly varied according to whether the weapon was a pistol, rifle, or shotgun" (see below ). The Act also prohibited the manufacture of "large capacity ammunition feeding devices" (LCAFDs) except for sale to government, law enforcement or military, though magazines made before

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4116-548: The American colonies. As use of the blunderbuss declined, the United States military began loading smaller lead shot ( buckshot ) in combination with their larger bullets, a combination known as " buck and ball ". The buck and ball load was used extensively by Americans at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814 and was partially responsible for the disparate casualty rates between American and British forces. The advantage of this loading

4214-466: The LAW-12 and SAS-12 were never designed to be interchangeable with the SPAS-12 as this would cause issues with the gas selector switch moving from auto to pump-action on the SPAS-12 model. The extensions have been known to spin off the front of the SPAS-12 during cycling if the extension was not tapered for the SPAS-12 retaining pin. The pump-action Franchi SAS-12 could accept 3" shells but it did not have

4312-482: The Second Amendment. Since its 2004 expiration, there has been debate on how the ban would fare in light of cases decided in following years, especially District of Columbia v. Heller (2008). Following the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, Congress mandated a study on the impact of the law. A 6.7% reduction in homicide rate was found but the result was not statistically significant. The authors suggested this

4410-486: The U.S. Coast Guard and showed promising results but again was not considered cost-effective for a contract over other available suppliers. The Assault Weapons Ban of September 1994 caused American Arms to stop the importation of the SPAS-12 with major losses of sales due to the legal restrictions invoked by the U.S. Assault Weapons Ban. Both importers placed numerous additional orders for the SPAS-12 that were never complete due to U.S. restrictions throughout importation. This

4508-668: The US army during World War II, the most popular being the M97 and M1912 . One disadvantage of using a shotgun in the Pacific Theatre was the way of carrying the shotshells. The standard rifle pouches that carried shotshells were small, only about 30 rounds if carried vertically. Some Marines carried the shells in SL-3 grenade vests from World War I, but these vests were hard to come by. Also used were modified bandoliers and whatever came to hand or could be improvised. Another disadvantage

4606-457: The United States were stopped. In September 2004 the ban expired, but Franchi ended production of the SPAS-12 in 2000 to focus on the manufacturing of the SPAS-15 model. The SPAS-12's factory retail price in its final year was US$ 1,500 averaged for its final sales outside the United States to non-restricted countries. The SPAS-12 was designed to function primarily in semi-automatic mode, with

4704-629: The ban expired. In May 2012, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said that "the inclusion in the list of features that were purely cosmetic in nature created a loophole that allowed manufacturers to successfully circumvent the law by making minor modifications to the weapons they already produced." The term was repeated in several stories after the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting . Senator Marco Rubio cited that issue during

4802-495: The ban under the Commerce Clause , the court first evaluated Congress's authority to regulate under the clause and then analyzed the ban's prohibitions on manufacture, transfer, and possession. The court held that "it is not even arguable that the manufacture and transfer of 'semiautomatic assault weapons' for a national market cannot be regulated as activity substantially affecting interstate commerce." It also held that

4900-561: The ban was renewed, the effects on gun violence would likely be small and perhaps too small for reliable measurement, because rifles in general, including rifles referred to as "assault rifles" or "assault weapons," are rarely used in gun crimes. That study, by the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania , found no significant evidence that either the assault weapons ban or the ban on magazines holding more than 10 rounds had reduced gun murders. The report found that

4998-536: The ban's impact on gun crime," since millions of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines manufactured prior to the ban had been exempted and would thus be in circulation for years following the ban's implementation. In 2003, the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent, non-federal task force, examined an assortment of firearms laws, including the AWB, and found "insufficient evidence to determine

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5096-654: The claims, and threatened reprisals in kind if any US troops were executed for possession of a shotgun. The shotgun was used by Allied forces and Allied-supported partisans in all theaters of combat in World War II, and both pump and semi-automatic shotguns are currently issued to all branches of the US military; they have also been used in subsequent conflicts by French, British, Australian, and New Zealand forces, as well as many guerrillas and insurgents throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Latin and South America, and Southeast Asia. Six different model of shotguns were accepted in

5194-407: The date of the ban's enactment. It expired on September 13, 2004, following its sunset provision . Several constitutional challenges were filed against provisions of the ban, but all were rejected by the courts. There have been multiple attempts to renew the ban, but none have succeeded. Research regarding the effects of the ban is limited and inconclusive. There is insufficient evidence to determine

5292-404: The effective date ("pre-ban" magazines) were legal to possess and transfer. An LCAFD was defined as "any magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device manufactured after the date [of the act] that has the capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition." The Act included several exemptions and exclusions from its prohibitions: In 1989,

5390-479: The effectiveness of any of the firearms laws reviewed for preventing violence." A review of firearms research from 2001 by the National Research Council "did not reveal any clear impacts on gun violence outcomes." The committee noted that guns were relatively rarely used criminally before the ban and that its maximum potential effect on gun violence outcomes would likely be very small. About

5488-527: The effectiveness of the ban on reducing the overall homicide rate as well as the total firearm homicide rate. The ban was in effect for a limited period and the vast majority of homicides are committed with weapons which are not covered by the FAWB. There is, however, tentative evidence that the ban reduced fatalities and injuries from mass shootings, as assault weapons are more frequently used for those crimes. Efforts to create restrictions on assault weapons at

5586-414: The expiration of the FAWB in 2004 "led to immediate violence increases within areas of Mexico located close to American states where sales of assault weapons became legal. The estimated effects are sizable... the additional homicides stemming from the FAWB expiration represent 21% of all homicides in these municipalities during 2005 and 2006." In 2013, Christopher S. Koper , a criminology scholar, reviewed

5684-519: The federal government level intensified in 1989 after the shooting of a teacher and 34 children , five of whom died, in Stockton, California, with a semi-automatic Kalashnikov-pattern rifle . The Luby's shooting in October 1991, which left 23 people dead and 27 wounded, was another factor. The July 1993 101 California Street shooting that killed eight people and wounded six, also contributed to

5782-568: The following makes and models of semi-automatic firearms and any copies or duplicates of them, in any caliber: Gun control advocates and gun rights advocates have referred to at least some of the features outlined in the federal Assault Weapon Ban of 1994 as cosmetic. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action and the Violence Policy Center both used the term in publications that were released by them in September 2004, when

5880-595: The front. This formed an improvised mortar capable of firing the incendiary device accurately out to a range of 100 meters. Federal Assault Weapons Ban The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act , popularly known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban ( AWB or FAWB ), was subtitle A of title XI of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 , a United States federal law which included

5978-438: The gas block and the piston are annular, along with the piston spring they enclose the magazine tube. Once operated, the piston drives 2 symmetrical thin sprung operating rods located in the corners formed by the barrel and the magazine tube. As the rods push the bolt carrier rearward, it disengages the locking lug and drives the bolt rearward, allowing the system to cycle. The SPAS-12 has a magazine cut-off feature, which prevents

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6076-497: The importation of 56 such rifles, determining that they did not meet the 'sporting purposes test ' ". Under the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, the definition of "semi-automatic assault weapon" ("SAW") (commonly shortened to "assault weapon") included specific semi-automatic firearm models by name and other semi-automatic firearms that possessed two or more from a set certain features: The law also categorically banned

6174-421: The importer American Arms in the early 1990s. There are two types of push-button safeties. The earliest version would release the hammer on a safe up to 1/4in. of travel when the trigger was depressed; this would cause a lockup of the action that would require the user to re-lock the bolt assembly to the rear to reset the hammer and then reload the chamber. The later version installed a detent and machined hole in

6272-594: The introduction of plastic hulls in the early 1960s. General Alexander Patch was seen armed with a Winchester shotgun when he personally led an attack in Guadalcanal . In the jungle warfare during the Malayan Emergency , the British Army and local forces of Malaya used shotguns to great effect due to limited space in the jungles and frequent close combat. In the Vietnam War , the shotgun

6370-402: The law's impact on public mass shootings. Gius defined this subset of mass shootings as those occurring in a relatively public place, targeted random victims, were not otherwise related to a crime (a robbery or act of terrorism), and that involved four or more victim fatalities. Gius found that fatalities and injuries due to mass shootings were statistically lower during the period the federal ban

6468-552: The law. According to research done by the Violence Policy Center, in 2016 one in four law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty were killed by an assault weapon. A 2018 study examined the types of crime guns recovered by law enforcement in ten different cities and found that assault weapons and semiautomatic guns outfitted with large capacity magazines generally accounted for between 22 and 36% of crime guns recovered by police. A 2013 study showed that

6566-450: The left or right, to fit under the user's forearm. This is to enable the shotgun to be fired with one hand; e.g. while abseiling/rappelling, or from a vehicle window while driving. The hook can be released from the buttplate completely by turning 180 degrees. SPAS-12 models feature two safeties: (i) a lever style or push button style safety, and (ii) a "quick employment safety". Lever safeties were recalled by Franchi and were replaced through

6664-470: The literature on the ban's effects and concluded that its effects on crimes committed with assault weapons were mixed due to its various loopholes. He stated that the ban did not seem to affect gun crime rates, and suggested that it might have been able to reduce shootings if it had been renewed in 2004. In 2004, a research report commissioned by the National Institute of Justice found that if

6762-411: The magazine from releasing a new round when the action is cycled. This allows the operator to load a different type of round into the chamber without first unloading the chambered round, and the second that would otherwise subsequently be released from the magazine. A unique feature of the folding-stock variants is the butt hook. With the stock extended, the hook can be pushed in and turned 90 degrees to

6860-506: The modern concept of the combat shotgun was fully developed by the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. The trench gun , as it was called, was a short-barreled pump action shotgun loaded with 6 rounds containing antimony -hardened 00 buckshot , and equipped with a bayonet. The M1897 and M1912 also could be slam fired : the weapon having no trigger disconnector , shells could be fired one after

6958-405: The more expensive SPAS-12 for departments throughout the United States. The LAW-12 model was notably lighter – 1.35 lb (0.61 kg) – than the SPAS-12 and still maintained the same tube capacity of 8+1 shells. LAW-12 gas pistons were designed as two pieces; unlike the one-piece design of the SPAS-12, they are not interchangeable. The LAW-12 was discontinued by Franchi shortly before the SPAS-12

7056-469: The now-bankrupt F.I.E Corp and began the re-importation of the Franchi SPAS-12 as the (Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun) under newly approved restrictions until 1994. The ATF allowed the importation of a SPAS-12 variant from American Arms because its size, weight, bulk and modified configuration were such that it was particularly suitable for traditional shooting sports. The SPAS-12 was tested by

7154-407: The opportunity presents itself. A common doctrine is "shoot one, load one": load a shell immediately after every shot (when this does not jeopardize the operator's safety), to ensure that the shotgun is fully loaded at all times; this ensures that the operator has a full magazine at their disposal in case of emergencies when they may not be able to reload in between shots. A pistol is also advised as

7252-554: The other simply by working the slide if the trigger was held down, though in the heat of combat one could easily short-stroke the weapon and jam it. When fighting within a trench, the shorter shotgun could be rapidly turned and fired in both directions along the trench axis. The shotguns elicited a diplomatic protest from the German government, claiming the shotguns caused excessive injury, and that any troops found in possession of them would be subject to execution. The US Government rejected

7350-421: The passage of the ban. Two of the three firearms he used were TEC-9 semi-automatic handguns with Hell-Fire triggers . The ban tried to address public concerns about mass shootings by restricting firearms that met the criteria for what it defined as a "semiautomatic assault weapon," as well as magazines that met the criteria for what it defined as a "large capacity ammunition feeding device". In November 1993,

7448-446: The proposed legislation passed the U.S. Senate . The bill's author, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and other advocates said that it was a weakened version of the original proposal. In May 1994, former presidents Gerald Ford , Jimmy Carter , and Ronald Reagan , wrote to the U.S. House of Representatives in support of banning "semi-automatic assault guns". They cited a 1993 CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll that found 77 percent of Americans supported

7546-410: The pump-action mode used to reliably fire low-pressure ammunition such as tear gas rounds or less-lethal bean bags. The firing mode is switched by depressing the button under the fore-grip and also sliding it forwards or backwards until it clicks into position allowing the rotating sleeve to open or close the two gas ports. The semi-automatic mode functions with a short-stroke gas piston system. When

7644-590: The sale of assault weapons." Efforts to pass a new federal assault weapons ban were made in December 2012 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting , in Newtown, Connecticut . On January 24, 2013, Senator Feinstein introduced S. 150 , the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 (AWB 2013). The bill was similar to the 1994 ban, but differed in that it would not expire after 10 years, and it used

7742-440: The share of gun crimes involving assault weapons had declined by 17 to 72 percent in the studied localities. The authors reported that "there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence, based on indicators like the percentage of gun crimes resulting in death or the share of gunfire incidents resulting in injury." The report also concluded that it was "premature to make definitive assessments of

7840-820: The shotgun is immediately dropped (retained by a sling) and replaced by another weapon after the door has been breached. By not cycling the action after firing the final breaching rounds (multiple rounds are often required) the pump shotgun is left without a loaded round in the chamber, unlike a semiautomatic shotgun. Due to the widespread use of the shotgun as a sporting firearm, it is used in guerrilla warfare and other forms of asymmetric warfare . Che Guevara , in his 1961 book Guerrilla Warfare , notes that shotgun ammunition can be obtained by guerrillas even in times of war, and that shotguns loaded with heavy shot are highly effective against unarmored troop transport vehicles. He recommends that suburban guerrilla bands should be armed with easily concealable weapons, such as handguns and

7938-463: The shotgun was the preferred method of door breaching by infantry units, ideally with a frangible breaching slug. For the breaching role, shorter barrels are preferred, as they are more easily handled in tight quarters. Limited ammunition capacity is one of the primary downsides of the combat shotgun. While box magazines are available in some models (such as shotgun derivatives of the AK-47 design, like

8036-669: The sporting shotgun traces its ancestry back to the fowling piece , which was a refinement of the smoothbore musket , the combat shotgun bears more kinship to the shorter blunderbuss . Invented in the 16th century by the Dutch, the blunderbuss was used through the 18th century in warfare by the British, Austrian, Spanish (like the Escopeteros Voluntarios de Cadiz, formed in 1804, or the Compañía de Escopeteros de las Salinas, among others) and Prussian regiments, as well as in

8134-636: The synthetic hollow fixed stock and a six-shell capacity to comply with federal regulations for sporting purposes. Four different factory barrels were manufactured for the SPAS-12. The Franchi SPAS-12 came equipped with a non-adjustable circular aperture rear sight and a large, non-adjustable blade foresight integrated into the barrel. The LAW-12 was semi-automatic only and the SAS-12 was a pump-action only. These three "sister" shotguns accepted all SPAS-12 components, notably trigger groups, barrel threaded attachments and stocks. The various magazine extension tubes of

8232-577: The time when the ban became law, assault weapon prices increased significantly, but the increase was reversed in the several months afterward by a surge in assault weapons production that occurred just before the ban took effect. John Lott found that the bans may have reduced the number of gun shows by over 20 percent. Koper also discovered that street prices of assault weapons and other guns can be three to six times higher than legal retail prices in jurisdictions with strict gun controls and lower level of gun ownership. Attorney General Eric Holder reiterated

8330-399: The trigger group frame to prevent an action lock; the detent would prevent the hammer from engaging when the trigger was depressed and would prevent an action lock from occurring. The quick employment safety, which is on the left side of the trigger guard, disconnects the trigger when put into safe mode. The quick employment safety can be disengaged with the trigger finger when ready to fire and

8428-400: The use of grenade launching cups, special launching cartridges and a less-lethal grenade. There are a number of experimental rounds currently under development and consideration by the US military, including explosive rounds and stand-off breaching rounds, which could further improve the range and flexibility of the combat shotgun. There are two primary modes of operation for combat shotguns,

8526-414: Was "entirely rational for Congress... to choose to ban those weapons commonly used for criminal purposes and to exempt those weapons commonly used for recreational purposes." It also found that each characteristic served to make the weapon "potentially more dangerous" and were not "commonly used on weapons designed solely for hunting." The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was never directly challenged under

8624-457: Was active. Gius concluded that although the study showed assault weapons bans are effective in reducing mass shooting fatalities, their effects on the overall murder rate are probably minimal at best. This is due to the fact that assault weapons are used much more frequently in mass shootings than they are in murders in general. Gius calculated that in 2012 there were 72 fatalities due to mass public shootings of which at least 30 were committed using

8722-456: Was also restricted by importation in 1989 and banned in 1994 with the Federal Assault Weapons Ban . The LAW-12 has a barrel length of 21 + 1 ⁄ 2  in (55 cm), a weight of 7 lb 4 oz (3.3 kg) and a capacity of 8 rounds in the magazine + 1 in the chamber. The model was known to have been imported with all stock styles used on the Franchi SPAS-12. The LAW-12 models were more common with police sales as an alternative to

8820-525: Was discontinued in 2000. In the United States, there were two importers of SPAS-12 shotguns. Importation of the SPAS-12 into the United States began in 1982 and ended in 1989 under F.I.E. Corp. In 1989, F.I.E. suffered from major losses in sales due to the president's importation ban, which was a reinterpretation of 18 U.S.C. 925(d)(3) that required firearms to have a "sporting purpose" in order to be imported. In 1990 American Arms incorporated purchased all remaining inventories of parts and SPAS-12 shotguns from

8918-468: Was due to the brief time period in which the law was in effect. A 2017 review on the effects of firearm laws on homicides found that limited data from 4 studies published regarding the Federal Assault Weapons Ban did not provide significant evidence that the ban was associated with a decrease on overall firearm homicides. A 2020 RAND Corporation review of five studies regarding the effects of state assault weapon bans on violent crime concluded that there

9016-537: Was externally threaded to accept a variety of attachments. The barrel is cylinder bored and spreads a normal shot charge to about 900mm at 40 meters. There are four different magazine extension tubes manufactured for the SPAS-12: Many choke types original and aftermarket exist for the SPAS-12. A 44 mm grenade launcher was used by France for explosive grenades capable of a range of 150 meters. A factory shot diverter that spreads shot vertically or horizontally

9114-407: Was originally included with earlier model SPAS-12s. There are many known reproduction diverters. Four different stock styles exist. The first version of the SPAS-12 was manufactured with a wooden detachable stock and a standard grip. Later models included the folding metal stock with a hook. After the United States imposed import restrictions on the SPAS-12 in 1989, a version was released in 1990 with

9212-440: Was paper-hulled shotshells , which would swell when they became damp in a rainy or humid environment, and would not fit into the chamber even after drying out. Commercial paper hulls were later impregnated with wax to make them water resistant, but in combat the heat from rapid firing would cause the wax to melt, often resulting in a jammed gun. Military-issue shotshells were usually made entirely of brass to avoid these issues, until

9310-476: Was supported in a 1999 Department of Justice brief. The legislation passed in September 1994 with the assault weapon ban section expiring in 2004 due to its sunset provision . The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Act was enacted as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 . The prohibitions expired on September 13, 2004. The Act prohibited the manufacture, transfer, or possession of "semiautomatic assault weapons", as defined by

9408-406: Was that it had a greater chance of hitting the enemy, thus taking wounded soldiers out of a fight. The disadvantage of this load was that the buckshot did not cause as severe wounds at longer ranges, and contemporary accounts show many of the British wounded recovering quickly as they had been struck by the buckshot rather than the ball. Fowling pieces were commonly used by militias, for example during

9506-559: Was the reason for such few numbers of shotguns imported into the United States. In the United States, between September 1994 and September 2004, the Federal Assault Weapons Ban prohibited the transfer and possession of SPAS-12 shotguns manufactured after 13 September 1994. The ban sunset on 13 September 2004 and is no longer in force. However, some U.S. States and territories currently maintain similar bans, including California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. Combat shotgun While

9604-549: Was used as an individual weapon in the American army during jungle patrol and urban warfare like the Tet Offensive . During the Somalian conflict in 1992, the US task forces tested out a new type of Remington shotgun called Ciener Ultimate Over/Under , which was an under-barrel attachment for the standard M16 variants during Operation Gothic Serpent . The idea was for a soldier in an entry team to be able to breach

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