New York legal term
Shotgun in New York Criminal Law
Current through 2026 New York legislative session
In New York criminal law, “Shotgun” is a term defined by statute rather than by its everyday meaning. Its statutory definition — quoted verbatim below — controls how the term is applied throughout the New York criminal code.
What does “Shotgun” mean in New York criminal law?
"Shotgun" means a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive to fire through a smooth or rifled bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger using either: (a) a fixed shotgun shell; or (b) a projectile or number of ball shot and explosive charge are loaded individually for each shot discharged. (N.Y. Penal Law § 265.00)
Statutes defining or using this term
Charges using this term
- Burglary in the first degree
- Burglary in the second degree
- Criminal contempt in the first degree
- Criminal manufacture, sale, or transport of an undetectable firearm, rifle or shotgun
- Criminal possession of a firearm, rifle or shotgun in a sensitive location
- Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree
- Criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds
- Criminal possession of an undetectable firearm, rifle or shotgun
- Criminal purchase or disposal of a weapon
- Criminal trespass in the first degree
- Criminal use of a firearm in the first degree
- Criminal use of a firearm in the second degree
Related terms in the same statutes
This reference is informational and is not legal advice.