Lesson in ordnance

In reply to Gus Gustafson's letter, "No one in U.S. should have an AK-47," having been around firearms, having had law enforcement experience, I can say there are a few errors in his thinking.

It is illegal in the U.S. to own an fully-automatic weapon. So why are they sold in the U. S.? It is because not all AK-47s are automatic. Some AK-47s are also made to be fired semiautomatically only. The term automatic weapon is misused by anti-gun and/or uninformed people and the news media. Basically, an automatic weapon is one that when the trigger is pulled will keep firing until the ammunition is exhausted. Illegal in the U.S.!

There is also the autoloading or semiautomatic weapon, wrongly called automatic. Autoloading or automatic in this case refers to a weapon that when the trigger is pulled one round is fired, and then another round is automatically chambered, but does not fire until the trigger is released and pulled again.

Just a side note. Forty-eight states have licensed concealed carry permits. The crime rates in these states are dropping. Illinois and the city of Chicago have some of the most strict gun laws in this country, and the highest crime rates.

David H. Holtz

Elgin