Last night on the O'Reilly Factor, the debate between Bill O'Reilly and Rep. Jason Chaffetz got extremely heated after O'Reilly called for Congress to pass a law requiring the registration of all "heavy" weapons to be reported to the FBI because it "makes sense."
First off, if you want to buy a machine gun legally, you can't get one unless you get a special permit from ATF. O'Reilly grossly misstated the facts. You cannot go buy a mortar or a full automatic machine gun at any gun shop, legally. Gun dealers don't sell them legally without a special permit. Second, AK-47s are semi-automatic, not automatic as O'Reilly suggested (to further clarify, AK-47s come in two forms, semi-automatic and automatic. The kind sold without special permit in the United States are semi-automatic.) Third, James Holmes, the man accused of mowing down a theater full of people last week, started shooting with a shot gun and then went for his semi-automatic rifle. Does a shot gun count as "heavy" weapon?
