I was watching a TV show with my grandfather. It was the year 1979 if memory serves me well. A war movie with howitzers or cannons or something. Big guns that went BOOM! I said, "Grandpa, look at that big firearm!" He said, WHAT!! What are you talking about...fire arm???" I then asked him what those cannons were called then. He said that those were guns. I learned then you cannot use firearm and gun interchangeably in every context of something that shoots and makes a lot of noise. Gramps was actually an army vet from World War Two and therefore military-minded. He also taught me at age 13 that riles in the army are weapons and not guns.
I was initially taught the general case, so far as I recall. Everyone knew about the common vernacular "guns." "Firearm" was for the general reference to the whole category of arms using "fire powder" (or gunpowder). Which would allow for revolvers, pistols, rifles, cannon, larger artillery, guns ... even our little gunpowder-in-a-steel-pipe launchers we crafted as kids. Of course, in practice nobody uses the term that way. Each term has their particular little portion of the pie they refer to. Kind of like the terms dinghy, skiff, boat, yacht and ship. Use the wrong one with a rich feller or a Navy puke, one's likely to get the "stink eye" for a moment (or worse). "Hey, bud, nice dinghy there!" (Which I suppose is about as good a way of needing a firearm as one might choose, if said to the "wrong" sort. Or even a gun, if attempting such a "compliment" with a Navy puke. )
We were taught to call our 1911s our "piece" in the Navy. Of course, they were big on alternative language like decks, bulkheads, galley, head, overheads, swabs etc. It really pizzed off the old chiefs to call a bulkhead a wall, so I did it on a regular basis. After boot camp, the most deadly weapon I dealt with was a pipe wrench. But, trust me, they can be lethal at close range.
Legally- anything that doesn’t use a cartridge isn’t a firearm. You can take a 1018 pipe and turn it into a 20mm muzzle loading cannon- and even a felon could own it.
So you're saying I could wear a Colts Navy replica into the courthouse and it would be cool because it's not a firearm? How bout an airplane?
Black powder is an explosive- so it’s banned on planes. Black powder guns are considered to be replica firearms- which are banned on planes. As far as courthouses go- it depends on the state- in Maine and NH you can carry in a courthouse
In the USAF when there was an alert we were issued M1 semi auto clubs. They never gave us ammo. Most would probably shoot themselves or their partner.
Felons may not posses what the GCA of 1968 defines as a firearm or metallic cartridge ammunition that can be fired through a firearm readily available to tube American public. A black powder cannon is neither of these
They are still heavy, just not as heavy. And, they’d probably be better weapons because they are light enough to actually swing well, and head loaded.
Not if it uses a muzzle loading projectile and blaming powder- then it’s considered a “primitive weapon”
US Army vernacular. An M16 or M14 is a rifle, a weapon or a piece. An M-9 is a pistol or piece. A .38 Special is a revolver or piece. Guns consist of shotguns, machine guns/ submachine guns and cannon. They have no legal meaning in the military- it is the military's language. The term "firearm" is not generally used as a generic term, but weapon MAY be. Think of the sign that says "Clear all weapons here". Prior to the era of political correctness, this was sometimes reinforced to new recruits as demonstrated in Full Metal Jacket.
My dad was navy, electrician mate, on aircraft carriers, 1955-1959. I was on board the USS Carl Vincent in 1997 for open house in the Port of Oakland, CA. There was a small VESSEL (waterborne conveyance) on board labeled the Commander's Barge. It, ooops, SHE looked to me like an ordinary motorboat or runabout. If you just say VESSEL to a swabbie in a Popeye hat, you cant go wrong when trying to classify a particular floating tub. I was once corrected for referring to a submarine as a SHIP rather than a BOAT.
Used to work with a retired Chief- Pearl Harbor survivor. Told me the old joke about the Senor Chief chewing out a new recruit over his use of terms- "This is a SHIP. THAT is a bulkhead, that is a hatch, that is a ladder. Now get it straight or I'll throw you out that funny little round window...."