Dear HCN, The firearm Don Barnett holds in your photo
on page 8 in the Oct. 9 issue of HCN, on the Mexican-U.S. border,
is not a machine gun. Such an error does us all a disservice by
needlessly inflaming the already emotional issues of Second
Amendment rights and illegal immigration. The latter you have
otherwise presented in a commendable manner. Mr. Barnett’s firearm
is a civilian, semi-automatic version of a military assault rifle.
To be a fully automatic military weapon, Mr. Barnett would be in
serious violation (years of imprisonment) of federal gun laws.
E.T. Collinsworth
III
San Simon Valley, Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Get your gun right.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
