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Clues for "swan" and "gnu" get one fired shortly (4-3,7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sawn-off shotgun

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'clues' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'swan and gnu get one fired shortly' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
an anagram of 'swan' is 'sawn' which is located in the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is found within the answer.
'one' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is located in the answer.
'fired' could be 'shot' (shooting is a kind of firing) and 'shot' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'for' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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