> From what I can see the only arms that are prohibited are ones that don't have a legal use (ie sawnoff shotguns) Not really, the sawnoff shotguns thing is an

> From what I can see the only arms that are prohibited are ones that don't have a legal use (ie sawnoff shotguns) Not really, the sawnoff shotguns thing is an anachronism. The National Firearms Act (NFA) which restricted sawnoff shotguns (not completely banned) was originally intended to restrict all handguns, presumably because they're concealable and useful for crime. To make a handgun ban meaningful, it was going to also restrict short barrel shotguns and rifles. The handgun restrictions got dropped from the NFA for political reasons, but the short barrel shotgun and rifle restrictions remained. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Act#Background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Act#Backgrou... You can still acquire/manufacture a short barrel shotgun or rifle, but you have do paperwork for it and from what I've seen nobody really values short barrel shotguns enough for this to be common. However if you did do all the paperwork and made or bought one, then subsequently used it for self defense, that would be legal. Also they're legal in Canada: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawed-off_shotgun#Canada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawed-off_shotgun#Canada