The SPAS-12 attempted to break the civilian sporting gun market but the system ultimately proved too unwieldy and generally complex for big game hunting or competition and the shotgun was eventually outlawed from import in the United States for its very "militaristic" features (high ammunition count, semi-automatic fire mode, heat shield for sustained firing, etc...). With the American gun market out of reach and global interest limited, Franchi ended production of their SPAS-12 in 2000. However, the lessons learned in its design and development went on to forge the later SPAS-15 series of automatic shotguns.
In the military market, the Franchi SPAS-12 found a home with Austria's EKO Cobra counter-terrorism units. Similarly, Indonesia fielded the SPAS-12 with their Komando Pasukan Katak and Komando Pasukan Khusus special warfare groups. Malaysia assigned the shotgun to their Special Operations Force and Bangladesh purchased the weapon in quantity for their Presidential Special Security Force. In the United States, SWAT teams were given access to the SPAS-12 for a time but the shotgun never found a permanent military home with the American military.
Incidentally, the acronym used to designate the SPAS-12 stood for "Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun", this being something of a psychological effort on the part of Franchi S.p.A. to help counter import bans and other restrictions arising within several countries by making the gun appear as more of a "sporting" system than the obvious. Regardless of its limitations and reach, the SPAS-12 went on to become one of the most recognizable shotguns in history.
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