While promoting a bill that would require individuals who manufacture homemade firearms to undergo background checks, California State Senator Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) made a fool of himself as he attempted to explain the capacity of an automatic rifle. Referring to the firearm in his hands as a “ghost gun” because it allegedly homemade and lacks a serial number, de Leon clearly struggles with gun-related terminology:
DE LEON: This is a ghost gun. This right here has the ability with a .30-caliber clip to disperse with 30 bullets within half a second. Thirty magazine clip in half a second.
Glenn, Pat, and Stu by no means claim to be gun experts. In fact, they most certainly are not. But even they understand the difference the difference between a clip, a magazine, and the caliber of a firearm:
TheBlaze summed up some of inaccuracies in de Leon’s remarks:
Firstly, there is no such thing as a “30-caliber clip” in the context of which he is speaking. He clearly is referring to a 30-round magazine. An ammunition magazine is different than a “clip,” but the two are often confused by those not familiar with guns. And though it’s obvious, there is also no such thing as a “30 magazine clip.”
Secondly, caliber refers the measurement of the width of a bullet or internal diameter of a gun barrel, not magazine capacity.
According to the Associated Press, the rifle on display in the video is indeed a homemade fully automatic rifle. Still, a rate of fire of 60 rounds per second — or 3,600 rounds per minute — is unlikely with a “homemade” rifle.
YouTube user David West put together a video pointing out the flaws in de Leon’s remarks, which has already garnered nearly 500,000 views.
Watch the California lawmaker’s comments in full here:
Front page image courtesy of the AP