What's The Difference Between A Semi-Automatic Weapon And A Machine Gun?

No matter how many time Liberal's are told this , they just get a case of the stuid!

Mass shootings in a Connecticut school, a Colorado movie theatre and a Tucson supermarket have revived the debate on "assault weapons" and their place in modern society. Trying to flip through the cable news channels without catching a glimpse of the argument -- which usually features one person from each side of the issue talking over the other, building to a crescendo of incomprehensible babble -- is the equivalent of attempting to reach out and touch the moon from your couch.One problem with the debate is that few people seem to agree on what the term "assault weapon" means.

What about the large revolver that Dirty Harry used to lug around? That thing certainly seems like it's capable of "assaulting" someone. To get to the heart of the issue, it's a good idea to first understand the differences between certain types of firearms. Machine guns and semi-automatic weapons, for example.

Are we talking about tanks and grenade launchers only? A machine gun is a military weapon capable of fully automatic fire. That is, the weapon continues to fire until it runs out of ammunition, so long as the trigger is pulled down. In the United States and elsewhere around the world, these weapons are likely to only be found on a battlefield [source: Violence Policy Center].

A semi-automatic weapon, on the other hand, could be described as a civilian version of a military machine gun, one that is less capable of rapid fire. Although the firearm automatically reloads, a shooter must pull the trigger separately in order to fire another round. Semi-automatic weapons are typically pistols, rifles and shotguns,

The AK-47 and AR-15 rifles,

The UZI submachine guns

The MAC-10 machine pistols.

These firearms are often referred to as "assault weapons," based on their rapid-fire capability.

Gun rights advocates have taken issue with the term, however, arguing that it only applies to fully automatic, "spray firing" weapons [source: Violence Policy Center].There are, generally speaking, two types of machine and semi-automatic guns: recoil-operated and those powered by gas.

In the former, the "blowback" or recoil force that occurs when a shot is fired sends the barrel backward rapidly, ejecting the empty bullet shell casing and loading a new bullet into the chamber. A gas-operated gun, meanwhile, harnesses the gas from a fired round to drive a piston in the weapon's barrel, which ejects the spent shell and cocks a fresh one. The automatic load feature in both types of operating system means the user does not need to cock the weapon hammer in order to load a new round [sources: National Institute of Justice]. The History of Machine Guns and Semi-automatic Weapons

In 1994, U.S. lawmakers passed a federal assault weapons ban, aimed at getting semi-automatic weapons off the streets. The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, (Checked by The Washington Post • 3 years ago Bill Clinton’s claim that the assault weapons ban led to ‘a big drop in mass shooting deaths’ Claim: "After they [assault weapons ban] passed in 1994, there was a big drop in mass shooting deaths. When the ban expired, they rose again. We must act now.”Rating: Two Pinocchios)

which expired 10 years later, did little to appease folks on either end of the gun control debate. Nevertheless, politicians, citizens and lobbyists on both sides continue to debate whether the law, or something similar to it, should be revived [source: Plumer]. For those seeking to thwart high-capacity "assault" weapons, the ban was marked by loopholes that allowed manufacturers to skirt the law with a few design changes here and there. For starters, the law did not prohibit all semi-automatic weapons, a move which would have applied to the vast majority of guns on the market. Instead, the act banned 18 specific gun models, including certain types of AR-15s and AK-47s and only those manufactured after 1994 [source: Plumer]. Gun control advocates called the ban toothless, noting that several of the prohibited design features -- bayonet mounts, grenade launchers, silencers and flash suppressors -- don't get to the heart of why these weapons are dangerous: Their ability to fire off several rounds in a short period of time. The law did, nevertheless, limit magazines capable of carrying more than 10 bullets [source: Plumer]. For many gun owners and the well-funded lobbyists at the National Rifle Association (NRA)

The ban was an unnecessary invasion on their constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms. Nor, according to these folks, does a gun ban do much to deter violence. Take away a criminal's pistol and he'll use a knife or a crowbar is one argument. "More guns, less crime" is another. The NRA says that from 1991 to 2012, the murder fell by half while the number of semi-automatic guns rose by 50 million [source: NRA]. As the debate continues, recent gun control efforts have focused on establishing a more robust ban on semi-automatic weapons, as well as a clamping down on highly unregulated gun shows, at which private individuals who are not considered dealers can sell guns without conducting a background check. Meanwhile, local gun control efforts have moved forward in cities and states across the country.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that an all-out ban on guns is unconstitutional, very tight restrictions remain in effect in places like New York and Massachusetts [source: Plumer]. We haven't run out of firepower just yet. Check out the links on the next page for more information on machine guns and semi-automatic weapons. Originally Published: Jan 28, 2013 https://science.howstuffworks.com/semi-automatic-weapon-vs-machine-gun.htm