New rifle is still ‘Antique’

The .50-caliber rifle at the center of the recent three-hour lock down on the St. John’s University campus in Jamaica Estates is not considered a “firearm” under New York State’s weapons laws.
The modern-looking weapon doesn’t fire “a fixed metal cartridge” or a “fixed shotgun shell,” which makes it an “antique firearm” under both New York State and City rules.
Instead, the rifle-like-object is charged with powder and a projectile is rammed home with a ramrod, just like the flintlocks of Revolutionary War days. A small metal cap, in this case the primer for a shotgun shell, is inserted into a holder on the gun and when the trigger is pulled, the primer is detonated, lighting the powder and sending the gumball-sized bullet on its way.
Antique guns, like flintlocks, “percussion cap” varieties like this one or those that use hard-to-obtain ammunition can be bought in New York State without showing any more than a driver’s license for identification, and require no permit. Because the shooting components are sold in bulk packages, it’s much cheaper to operate, literally pennies per shot, than a modern rifle with expensive brass cartridges.
The wording of the city’s code on these “antiques” suggests that unless the bearer isn’t carrying all the required components - powder, shot and primer cap - they aren’t carrying a gun.
Even the black powder used in most of these “antiques” isn’t covered in the weapons laws, but in the state’s labor law, and only amounts more than five pounds are subject to restrictions.
Nevertheless, the “antique” taken by police at St. John’s is called “inexpensive and accurate” by reviewers on websites devoted to sport shooting.
Reviewers say that it will fire bullets into an area the size of an orange over the length of a football field and can take down an adult male deer roughly a city block away.
Among city officials, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has called on the Legislature to review the “antique” designation.
When asked about the odds of such a review taking place, Assemblymember Mark Weprin conceded that because of strong support for hunting and shooting upstate, it was “not very likely.”
But all the technicalities in the world don’t exempt an object which doesn’t use modern shells from being a “weapon” under the proper circumstances, like bringing a rifle-look-alike onto school grounds and creating a wave of hysteria.