Orange County NC Website
12 <br />Commissioner McKee said that he was hearing a difference in understanding <br />among Committee members about what an assault weapon is and what a hunting <br />weapon is. He asked if it would be worthwhile, if the Sheriff’s Office has access to <br />an AR-15 and, say, a .223 hunting rifle, to bring those guns in for Committee <br />members to developa shared understanding about what they have in common and <br />how they are different. They are effectively the same caliber and effectively have <br />the same rapidity of fire, he said, but they don’t look the same.The AR-15 is a <br />“fancied up” and dangerous looking hunting rifle, he said. They fire basically the <br />same bullet and can be fired just as fast as each other. It would give us a better <br />context for what an assault weapon is, he said. I think that when people say “AR- <br />15” they are actually thinking M16’s or a fully automatic machine gun. But they <br />are not the same thing. It would help the Committee to define a shared base line of <br />what an AR-15 is, because when you read in the paper about an assault rifle it is <br />used interchangeably with AR-15. Deputy Sykes saidthat he does have access to <br />those weapons and could bring them in. <br />Ms. Conti appreciated the idea. I don’t know an assault weapon from a pop gun, <br />she said. I just know that I don’t think the shooting range behind my house is safe. <br />She offered to retractwhat she said about the type of weapons being used on that <br />range. There was a vigorous response by the group that she not do that, that she <br />feel free to say out loud whatever it is that she is thinking and feeling. I gather that <br />it is a sport thing goingon over there, she said; people are practicing with their <br />sporting and hunting weapons. Commissioner McKee said that Ms. Conti has a <br />valid concern about her safety, and suggested that the group would benefit from <br />seeing the two types of guns side by side,because they look radically differentbut <br />are in effect the same machine. <br />Mr. Tilley said that he would not want to be hearing as much shooting as Ms. <br />Conti says she is hearing from her neighbor’s range. I’m a shooter, but I have more <br />respect for folks than that. You have a valid complaint and something needs to be <br />checked out about it. I’m sure Jamie can help you with that, he said. <br />Mr. Hunnell said that one thing that is working for firearms safety is that young <br />people in order to get a hunting licensehave to take a state course in hunter safety. <br />It is teaching individuals to know what they should and should not fire into. <br />Second, he said, we should develop the understanding together on this Committee <br />about the difference in hazard posed by a pistol,a rife, and a shotgun. I have data I <br />can share on this later, he said. The bullet from a pistol does not go very far. If you