Washington Examiner – by Paul Bedard

Pro-Second Amendment groups fighting gun control efforts in Virginia have seized on a video showing the author of a sweeping ban fumbling over defining the “assault weapons” he wants to outlaw.

In the video, Democratic Virginia Del. Mark Levine said the biggest difference between hunting rifles and “assault weapons” is “how you hold the gun.” 

Speaking at a public meeting, the author of legislation to ban AR-style guns and large, bullet-holding magazines used in semi-automatic weapons also said shooters could use several fingers to pull the trigger and that deer know the sound of a bullet shot through a “silencer” better than humans.

As audience members were heard chuckling in the background, Levine said: “In terms of the differences of the guns, the heart of the difference is how you hold the gun. It makes it a semi-automatic.” He showed his trigger finger moving, and added, “Meaning you can shoot with each finger, not like a bolt-action” rifle typically used in hunting.

“Basically, the difference between guns that go like this,” he said, extending one arm long, presumably to show holding a long barrel. “These are rifles, you use them to shoot an animal, and you can shoot very precisely.”

Asked to define guns he would ban at a meeting last week, he said, “Mass shooters don’t like things that go like this,” posing as if holding a bolt-action rifle.

Explaining why, he said: “What that means is, that somebody could hit the rifle butt against their head. Deer don’t do this, elk don’t do this, but humans, trying to save their lives, do this.”

Then, waving his arm Rambo-style in a sweeping fashion, he said: “Mass shooters use guns that go like this. … Guns that go like this are wildly inaccurate.”

His comments have been mocked by gun users, especially after the National Rifle Association posted the video.

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