In light of recent shootings that have captured the media's attention, and have pushed Congress to introduce bills, we are again having the debate over gun rights vs gun control. As we've seen over the last 100 years, there is a great misunderstanding of basic firearm terminology. Regardless if it is out of ignorance, or someone trying to push an agenda, you cannot have a constructive conversation about the utility of the 2nd amendment in the modern United States if we are not at least discussing the same things. And to that, I am hoping we can at least define some terms that can be used to add some clarity and reality to these discussions.

Automatic, Semiautomatic, and everything else

Pew-Pew-Pew vs Pew-Pause-Pew vs Pew-Longer Pause-Pew

Automatic Firearms - Generally defined as firearms capable of firing multiple rounds with a single trigger pull. Examples include the M2 Heavy Machine Gun, the M4 Assault Rifle (a later variant of the civilian, semiautomatic AR-15), and the military variant of the AK-47. The ATF's definition of a machine gun can be found here.

Semiautomatic Firearms - Generally defined as firearms capable of firing a single round with a single trigger pull. It is considered semiautomatic because after firing a round, the weapon automatically loads the next round into the chamber. Examples include the AR-15, the civilian variant of the AK-47, many common hunting rifles, many pistols such as a Glock 19, and some shotguns such as the Remington Model 1100. The ATF's definition of a semiautomatic firearm can be found here.

Revolvers - Generally defined as a firearm that has a revolving cylinder that stores the ammunition. When the trigger is pulled, the cylinder rotates and places a round in front of the barrel. At the end of the trigger pull, the round is fired. This only allows for one round to be fired per trigger pull.

Bolt Action - Generally defined as a firearm where the shooter has to manually pull the bolt back to extract and eject the previously fired case and then close the action by bringing the bolt forward to load the next round. This is in contrast to semiautomatic firearms where the next round is automatically loaded.

Other types of actions include pump actions, commonly found on shotguns but also some rifles, lever action which is common to some hunting rifles, and break action, common to some shotguns.

Assault Rifles, Assault Weapons, and why the definitions matter

A legal definition vs a scare tactic

The term "Assault Rifle" is probably the most misused term by the media and our politicians, when in fact it is easily definable.

Assault Rifle - A rifle which has a selector switch to change between Safe, Semiautomatic, Burst Fire (a set number of rounds fired, normally three, with a single trigger pull), and Automatic. These firearms are often referred to as being capable of "Select Fire." Burst fire is not always an option on all assault rifles. There are some subtleties with regard to barrel length and caliber, but generally speaking, this is the definition that is commonly accepted.

That's it. If the firearm cannot fire both in a semiautomatic mode and a fully automatic mode, then it is not an assault rifle. Additionally, these rifles are regulated by law as machine guns and enforcement falls to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). However, this has not stopped legislators and the media from improperly expanding this definition to include many common semiautomatic firearms, including the AR-15.

Now, "Assault Weapon" is a term that has no standard definition. Most of the time assault weapons are defined based on some of their cosmetic features, such as the inclusion of a barrel shroud (something to protect the shooter's hands from being burnt on a hot barrel), an adjustable shoulder stock, or a flash hider. Many states, like California and New York, have passed laws to ban these weapons based on features that do not increase the rate of fire of the weapon beyond it's original design nor do they increase the energy and/or power imparted into a target.

When having a debate about gun rights vs gun control, it is important to make sure that everyone in the conversation knows the difference between an Assault Rifle and an Assault Weapon. It is also important, if discussing regulating Assault Weapons to define with the person what an Assault Weapon is. Without creating that standard definition at the beginning of the conversation and maintaining it throughout, it will not be a conversation worth having.

Silencers vs Suppressors

Is the gun community actually wrong here?

The debate over the name of the device that is used to make gunshots quieter is pretty dumb in this case. Many in the gun community will yell and scream that the term "Silencer" is incorrect because it doesn't make the shot silent, and technically that is 100% correct. However, regardless of if you call it a silencer or suppressor, everyone is generally in agreement as to what the definition of the device is. The ATF defines (here) the device as a silencer and gives the definition seen below.

Silencer or Muffler - Any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for the use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.

Currently, silencers are regulated the same way a machine gun is regulated with regard to the purchase and sale of the device. However, unlike machine guns, new silencers can be added to the registry while machine guns cannot.

What else do people get wrong?

Unfortunately, a lot...

There are a lot of other terms that are often confused and I'm going to do my best here to add some clarity.

Magazine vs Clip

Magazine - Devices which hold ammunition and are attached to the firearm to supply and feed ammunition into the weapon. Magazines are completely re-loadable and re-useable.

Clip - A metal strip used to aid in the loading of ammunition into a magazine. The clip grabs the rim of the ammunition and, when placed properly against the firearm or magazine, allows the user to push the ammunition into the magazine. Clips are generally regarded as disposable but in actuality are reused.

What is considered "High Power"

Oftentimes when an AR-15 is used in a shooting, the media and politicians will refer to the weapon as a "high powered rifle" when in actuality it is quite low power compared to your common hunting rifle. The AR-15 is chambered (uses) 5.56x45mm (.223), generally with a 62 grain bullet. This is an intermediate cartridge, generally providing about 1.8 kJ of energy. A common hunting round, the 7.62x51mm (.308), has almost double the energy, about 3.3 kJ (source). In some places, such as Pennsylvania, you cannot hunt white tail deer with 5.56x45mm because it is considered underpowered for that sized game. It is, however, a great round for animals such as coyote.

That guy has an arsenal!

How many guns make an arsenal? An arsenal is defined as a collection of weapons. So, I guess, if someone has two guns, he/she has an arsenal. In reality, many gun owners have multiple guns. Sometimes it is because you need different guns for different purposes. For instance, it is easy to imagine someone having a pistol for personal defense when out and about, a shotgun for home defense and hunting, and multiple rifles chambered in the calibers necessary for the game they are hunting. Other times, it is because people just like guns. That does not make them abnormal. Growing up, many kids are gifted guns from parents and grandparents at important events in their life, such as at their baptism (a tradition in my family for both boys and girls), graduation, birthdays, and Christmas. Other times people inherit firearms from relatives who passed away. So, when you see in the news that someone had an arsenal, take it with a grain of salt.

Well, what about when they have thousands of rounds of ammunition? Well, that's not uncommon either. Just by going to any site where you can buy ammo online, you'll see that 1,000 rounds is not an uncommon quantity. In fact, if you are a responsible gun owner who goes to the shooting range to practice how to use your weapon safely, something every gun owner should do, you will go through that 1,000 rounds rather quickly. When going with a friend to an indoor range and sharing the shooting lane for an hour, it is not unheard of to go through 500 rounds between the two of us. So again, when you hear that the shooter had "thousands of rounds of ammunition" that is not uncommon, most gun owners who practice will.

I hope this helped...

If you made it this far, you either care about having an honest conversation or you are looking to throw facts in the face of that liberal aunt at thanksgiving.

Either way, thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you feel I misrepresented something, please let me know in the comments. I am always willing to re-evaluate my understanding of things and I truly want to have an honest conversation about the place of the 2nd amendment and our firearms in the modern day United States. I think if we just take the time to educate people even a little bit at the beginning of these debates, they will understand the gun communities' arguments a bit more and we will see a slower erosion of our rights as American citizens. After all, the 2nd amendment isn't just for white conservative males, its for every citizen of the United States, especially the minority groups who face persecution by the majority. But we'll talk about this in another post.

-Greg