News stories about the mass shootings in this country usually refer to the weapon used as a semi-automatic rifle, but many guns used in hunting or self-protection are semi-automatic, including handguns. Semi-automatic simply means one shot fired with each trigger pull, and the gun ejects the spent cartridge and reloads itself each time it’s fired.

The principal difference between a semi-automatic hunting rifle and the assault weapons that many mass shooters use is the magazine capacity or how many rounds you can fire without reloading. Semi-automatic rifles used for hunting usually hold about six rounds and that’s pretty typical of a gun used for hunting, whereas weapons used in these mass shootings, like an AR or an AK, typically have magazine capacities of 20 to 50, rounds or more.

Better background checks, better mental health care, better parenting, “red flag laws”, all would help but nothing would help more than a ban on the sale of guns that are designed to kill many human beings as fast as possible, and any loser with a grudge or hate can buy them. Why?

Using the Second Amendment to strike fear of confiscation into the minds of gun owners is simply a mask to hide behind. There’s no slippery slope. We had a ban on assault weapons from 1994 to 2004. Nobody’s guns were taken away then, nor since unless they were a felon (that’s another story) or mentally impaired. There’s only one reason Congress won’t restrict these weapons and that’s because the NRA and the gun manufacturers pay better than voters do.

Kari Morgan

Sultan