Trapp, back about 40 years ago, a Texas Highway Patrol major brought his "riot control" guns to my uncle for some gunsmithing.
They were double-barrelled shotguns. External hammers. Nothing but the pistol-grip left, of the buttstock. Barrels cut to about eight inches.
"Dry fired, but not test fired."
I can imagine that the visual effect on the front rows of a rowdy crowd would be somewhat, er, "intimidating", I think might be the proper word.
, Art