What most don’t understand about NY gun laws is: normal rifles and shotguns are not “firearms”. I kid you not. “Firearms” in NY are whatever is defined as regulated and restricted or banned, to wit handguns, assault weapons, short barreled rifles/shotguns, and machineguns. So: no, they didn’t. Welcome to legalese - words don’t mean what you think they do. Excellent post. In law, such specifically defined words are called "terms of art," and they are used everywhere.
In fact, they are what Roberts exposed in his Obamacare ruling, and what people didn't bother to learn about before they unfairly damned him.
One Stone, Two Powers: How Chief Justice Roberts Saved America