A report just released by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), “Study on the Importability of Certain Shotguns,” has proposed that, “military shotguns, or shotguns with common military features that are unsuitable for traditional shotgun sports” be prohibited from importation.

This ban would apply to all shotguns—not just semi-automatics.  As a press release by the National Rifle Association (NRA) noted, “as in previous ‘working group’ studies on rifles, the study fails to give proper credit to the widespread use of these guns in newer shooting sports, or to their adaptability to hunting.”

Under current federal firearms law concerning imports, the Attorney General has to first approve the importation of any firearm “generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.”  The problem with that?  As the NRA explained, “This ‘sporting purposes’ test was imposed by the Gun Control Act in 1968, a time when the right to self-defense with a firearm was not as widely respected by the courts as it is today.”

This section of the Gun Control Act, the NRA argued, needed to be changed.  “Clearly, the main reason to change the law is that the Second Amendment—as the Supreme Court said in District of Columbia v. Heller — protects our right to keep and bear arms for defense, not for sports.  In its 2008 Heller decision, the court observed that ‘the inherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right’ and ruled that the Second Amendment protects ‘the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation,’ particularly within the home, where ‘the need for defense of self, family, and property is most acute.’”

Click here to read the 34-page study

“NRA members and other concerned gun owners can submit comments on the study until May 1, 2011.  Comments may be submitted by e-mail to shotgunstudy@atf.gov or by fax to (202)648-9601. Faxed comments may not exceed five pages. All comments must include name and mailing address.”

SOURCE:  NRA 1/28/11: