Rifles or pistols can be Semiautomatic or Automatic
Semi-Automatic gun:
You must pull the trigger to fire one round (bullet), you then must then release the trigger and pull it again to fire the next round. (most semiautomatic guns will reload automatically but again you must pull the trigger to fire)
Automatic Gun: (Machine Gun)
You can pull the trigger and hold it and the gun will fire rounds (bullets) until you release the trigger.
All Automatic guns are ILLEGAL. Semi-automatic guns are legal. The “assault weapons used in these killings have been “Semi-Automatic”, but with technology these weapons can fire so fast by pulling the trigger quickly and the rounds (bullets) are so hi-powered they are deadly.
Semiautomatic guns can be converted to automatic but it is ILLEGAL and the ATF has a very high priority to stop possesion of Automatic Weapons.
Another topic is “Capacity” of rounds (bullets) that these guns can hold. A seperate magazine (or clip) is used to hold rounds of ammunition. There are different sizes ranging from 10 bullets to 100 or so. Most regular purchases of magazines hold 10-15 rounds. An empty magazine can be discharged from a gun and another fully loaded magazine can be loaded in a second or two.
The kid used the 223 in the killings but had another Shotgun type assault weapon in the car.
