I bought my first sxs, an Ithaca SKB Model 150, at the US Navy base in Rota, Spain in 1972. When I returned to the States, I made the mistake of following the law and shipped it back to a gun shop in my hometown. It got stopped by Customs in NY. I managed to liberate it without paying a storage fee, but it took some effort. Back then, no one really knew the ins and outs of the law. My coworker the vice consul in the embassy told me I should have just shipped it home in my household goods.