GUNS 101

Stacy Case

  With the President's plan for gun control fully on the table, a lot of political rhetoric comes with this controversial issue.  So tonight, we're bringing you what we call Guns 101 to clear up the confusion.
 
At a recent 2nd Amendment rally in Murfreesboro,  gun owners were already drawing a line in the sand ahead of the President's plan.

Sen. Bill Ketron / R Murfreesboro says, "It's not going to happen in TN  because we'll just dig a moat around this state."

   The President's plan doesn't come close to taking away 2nd Amendment rights as some feared, but it would limit what's available. 

Bob Shrader, a competitive shooter says, "You can buy a 100 round magazine."   Shrader is a competitive shooter, an Army veteran, an NRA member, and former range safety officer who also works as Fox 17's Chief Photographer.

 If the President's plan passes, the magazine which hold the bullets would fire no more than 10 bullets, requiring a shooter to reload more often. 
Shrader adds, "It would be about half the size."

   In the Colorado theatre shooting and the Connecticut school shooting both gunmen used 30 round magazines,  meaning they could  fire 30 times before they ran out of bullets.  Sadly, both reloaded, and continued shooting.

Pres. Obama says: "A ban on military-style assault weapons."    That phrase 'military style assault weapons'  is another one we'll hear a lot of in the coming weeks. 

Shrader, "Most people think that's the same thing the military is using which would be a fully automatic weapon.  The truth is the public generally can't own those. You have to have a special class 3 permit to own those and you can only buy those from a class 3 licensed dealer."

   In essence, we already can't buy guns the military uses.  The military uses fully automatic.  The public buys semi automatic.    Shrader explains the difference, "A fully automatic weapon means when you pull the trigger  when you hold the trigger back it's going to fire until the magazine is empty. The semi automatic weapon,  whether it's a handgun or a rifle,  is going to fire one round each time you pull a trigger and one round only."

  The last assault rifle ban expired in 2004.  Any proposed legislation could include bans on specific guns such as  AR-15'S AND AK-47'S.

Guns 101