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WSIU Associate Director for News and Public Affairs
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A Quick Guide to Guns
(Information from the Illinois State Police presentation to INBA on March 23, 2013 in Springfield, Illinois)
Guns- an overall term generic term for firearms. Another generic term is "weapons."
(Illinois State Police Sgt. Greg Hacker demonstrates weapons most commonly used in sport hunting and law enforcement)
They are divided into two types:
(Illinois State Police Lt. Steve Lyddon shows some of the most common weapons used by officers and sport hunters)
Magazine not interchangeable with the term "clip" which is a type of loading device. A magazine is a container, fixed or detachable, which holds cartridges to be fed into the gun's chamber.
Semi-automatic weapons immediately load another bullet into the chamber as soon as you press the trigger to fire, but you must press the trigger each time. Most pistols are semi-automatic weapons.
Automatic weapons fire constantly as long as you hold the trigger and ammunition is available. Fully automatic weapons are illegal in Illinois without a special license.
Select-fire weapons allow the owner to choose automatic or semi-automatic fire.
There is no law enforcement definition of "assault weapon."
Reporters were invited to tour the FBI Headquarters in Springfield. Many of the morning's participants took part in the tour.