My answers for Piers Morgan

John R. Lott appeared on CNN Wednesday night along with Jeanne Assam.

I tuned in in time to see Jeanne retell part of her story.  After Piers Morgan cut her off, he assaulted Lott with the inquisition

"WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF AN AR-15?"

Then he interrupted with another question

"HOW MANY BULLETS CAN IT FIRE A SECOND?"

When Lott attempted to continue answering the first question Morgan demanded again

"HOW MANY BULLETS DOES THE AR-15 FIRE A SECOND?"

And things went down hill from there (I walked away after setting the DVR)...

Now Lott is an economist who has researched crime statistics. I have no idea if he even owns a gun.   His explanation began that all semi-auto firearms function the same whether they look like a military weapon or not. After that was mostly cross talk.


I will take it upon myself to answer these question to the best of my ability.


"WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF AN AR-15?

To fire a projectile...  same as any other gun. You want more? OK... To fire a projectile while weighing less than other guns of a larger caliber.

"HOW MANY BULLETS DOES THE AR-15 FIRE A SECOND?"

Hell if I know... Typically you refer to the cyclic rate of a fully automatic weapon in rounds per minute ie: a machine gun.  A semi-automatic weapon is the  opposite of a machine gun, as a machine gun continues to cycle when the trigger is held, but a semi-automatic weapon cycles once and stops when the trigger is held. Truth is almost all semi-autos will cycle faster than you can pull the trigger.  Let's just call it 4 rounds a second based entirely off this youtube video.

Good enough... That takes care of Morgan's questions. What about the question he didn't ask? You know the one that might provide a little context for the audience.

How Many Bullet Does A Non-Semi-Automatic Weapon Fire A Second???


How about 4 rounds a second.

Plus a reload in the middle.

But that's not fair... a world record holder against a youtube star.

What we need is a world record holder against a world record holder...

Enter Tom Knapp and his semi-auto shotgun.

With his 12-ga. Semi-Auto Shotgun and extended magazine tube, Tom launched ten clay targets into the air with one hand and shot all ten with individual shots in an unbelievable 2.2 seconds flat.

And the challenger? Tom Knapp and his pump action shotgun.

Tom Knapp, with his pump Shotgun in one hand, threw eight clay targets in the air with his other hand and broke every one of them with individual shots in an amazing 1.87 seconds.

So each shot with a pump shotgun took 0.23 seconds. While each shot with the semi-auto shotgun took 0.22 seconds. Not a very big difference especially when the police take 20 minutes to respond.

 One more question for Piers Morgan. Can you explain this photo???

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