KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
The mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando has led to a new debate about gun control. And there are a lot of technical and legal terms that come up in these conversations like semi-automatic or high-capacity magazines.
So we wanted to break down exactly what those words mean. For listeners who have experience with guns, this will probably seem kind of basic. But we hope it will give people a better handle on these debates. And to help us with that, we called up Adam Winkler. He is a law professor at UCLA. Thanks for being with us today.
ADAM WINKLER: Thank you for having me.
MCEVERS: OK. Let's start with a term we've heard a lot lately - semi-automatic. That is how people have described the Orlando shooter's rifle. What does it mean?
WINKLER: Well, let's start with the idea of an automatic weapon. An automatic weapon's like a machine gun. The way that works is when you fire the first round of ammunition, the gases and whatnot from the actual explosion that sets off the round of ammunition trigger a device within the firearm that loads the next round of ammunition and fires it. A semi-automatic does the same thing, it just doesn't fire that second round of ammunition. So if you want to fire a semi-automatic weapon twice, you have to pull the trigger two times.
MCEVERS: So yeah, I mean, our images of a machine gun in the movies is like (imitating machine gun), and you've only had to pull the trigger once. But to do that with a semi-automatic weapon, you have to continually pull the trigger.
WINKLER: That's right. An automatic weapon, a machine gun, has been effectively banned in the United States since 1986.
MCEVERS: OK. So what about the term assault weapon?
WINKLER: An assault weapon is a terminology that's given to a military-style firearm, one that's designed to look like something you would use in the military. Often, these things are defined more narrowly for purposes of law as a military-style weapon that has certain kinds of characteristics such as a bayonet lug or a pistol grip that are typical of military-style firearms.
MCEVERS: Is it correct to say that assault weapon is more of a legal term than it is a technical term?
WINKLER: That's right. Before the assault weapons ban, there was really no such thing as an assault weapon. They were just different kinds of rifles, and the assault weapon was a terminology that was given to these military-style firearms. But many people in the gun world swear there's no such thing as an assault weapon.
MCEVERS: When it comes to gun control proposals, we hear about banning so-called high-capacity magazines. Explain that to us.
WINKLER: A semi-automatic firearm generally has a high-capacity magazine. That is to say a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds of ammunition. These things are very commonplace on both these military-style rifles, but also on many handguns. In fact, about half the handguns sold in America are sold today with a high-capacity magazine. The high-capacity magazine really is tied to the lethality of the weapon, how many rounds it can shoot before someone has to reload.
MCEVERS: I guess the big question about all this is, you know, when we misunderstand or misuse some of these terms how do you see that as affecting the debate?
WINKLER: It's one of the biggest problems for gun-control advocates today. Many of them really don't like guns, so they don't know very much about them until you hear them promoting legislation that's not likely to be effective because it's based on a misunderstanding of firearms.
MCEVERS: That's Adam Winkler. He's a law professor at UCLA and author of the book "Gunfight." Thank you very much.
WINKLER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
