Since when did the feds issue a permit?
I think the thing with bird shot is not about leaving several small holes, it is the tearing through the flesh. The spread is supposed to increase the likelihood that it will tear into an artery, or so I understand.
Im not shotgun guy, and while I may have interest in one in the future, right now my walls are thin and I have little desire to buy and train with a completely new (to me) concept, so my understanding of them is primitive at best.
They issue (if one qualifies) a "license", or whatever you'd like to call it, for Class III weapons and destructive devices, like a 20mm cannon. Which, one would be able to argue is much more "lethal" than a shotgun.
As far as the tear theory goes, what we're talking about is permanent and temporay wound channels. With birdshot, one has to PENETRATE in order to do the proper damage required to shut down the brain signals to the hands and feet. This what we're trying to do when we shoot people - we're trying to get them to stop doing what they are doing with their hands and feet - and it's so important that we stop them RIGHT NOW, the law sees it as "ok" if they DIE from our actions. It's not our intenet to kill, but rather to stop. However, a general biproduct of correct shot placement is that the VCA will (eventually) expire.
We are trying to stop the oxygen to the brain or sever the spinal cord. This requires marksmanship at any distance, and serious skill at contact distance. It requires that we put bullets in very specific places, and we do it quickly. Betting on a pellet of birdshot to clip an artery, in hopes that the VCA will bleed out before he hacks us to death with a axe, is something I'm not willing to try out if given a choice. Drop me off in Mexico and all I can get is a 20ga with birdshot - ok. It's better than a pointed stick, and I understand the limitations. But the penetration of birdshot is just not impressive, and it does little or nothing against layered denim or leather jackets. 00 Buckshot is proven to cause massive permanent and overlapping wound channels, which, when applied to the torso, most don't survive.
