L.A. Times Describes Common Semiautomatic Firearms as ‘Rapid-Fire Weapons’

The Los Angeles Times described commonly-owned semiautomatic firearms as “rapid-fire weapons” on Monday, continuing its campaign for gun control.

The ominous description is part of the left’s habit of describing AR-15s and other commonly-owned semiautomatics as weapons of war.

The Times segued into the topic while warning that President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, could vote to overturn “assault weapons” bans. The paper quickly re-classified “assault weapons” as “rapid-fire weapons,” warning that a conservative court could overturn bans on “rapid-fire weapons.”

These claims overlook the fact that a semiautomatic rifle fires one round each time the trigger is pulled, period. The same is true for a semiautomatic handgun or a double-action revolver.

Therefore, to say the guns fire rapidly is a relative claim at best, a misleading one at worst. Moreover, although a trigger can be pulled quickly on a commonly-owned semiautomatic rifle or handgun — or a double-action revolver — accuracy is lost in so doing, except in the case of professional sport shooters.

For example, professional sport shooter Jerry Miculek can shoot eight rounds with a double-action revolver in one second, and stay on target:

Miculek shot 12 rounds with that same revolver — which is six shots, a reload, and six more shots — in just under three seconds, staying on target throughout.

Rapid firing with accuracy comes only after years and years of practice. And many individuals who learn to do it — individuals like Miculek — do it with revolvers, not the Times’ “rapid-fire weapons.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.