Searching the gun store and the flare gun questions

[Wade]

N00b here with a couple quick questions. I didn't see them answered in the FAQ or anywhere else.

First one is pretty simple:
Flare gun is considered a firearm correct?
Just wondering, because they are not regulated like other firearms are in the US. So technically they could be considered non-guns. We've been treating them as guns, and therefor they can be pulled when searching the gun store.

2nd is related to the first:
We had a game (Die Zombies Die) where all 4 heros holed up in the gunstore. Since the heros can do their actions in any sequence they want (correct?) if often went like this: Hero shoots flare, kills zombie, flare gun dicarded, same hero searches, picks up the flare gun again. Similar things would happen with the revolver and shotgun.

This seems to be within the rules, but I can't help but feel like it was sort of... well maybe not cheating, but cheap. The heroes cleaned up rather quickly like this. And in following games everyone made a bee line to the gun shop to repeat the procedure.