A reader asked me to clarify the county ban on "single-shot" firearms. Currently, Cook County IL prohibits possession of so-called "assault weapons." The ordinance provides a list of prohibited models, plus a "characteristic-based" criterion.

As everyone here knows, there is widespread public confusion that has been caused by the incessant use of the terms "assault rifle" and "assault weapon" to describe semi-auto guns. The legal distinction is drawn between arms that are full auto/burst capable or not, but the pervasive use of "assault weapon" to refer to all semis confuses the issue. Thus, I tend to think of and refer to any and all non-automatic firearms as single shot firearms. They are single shots because they fire a single shot per pull of the trigger. There are muzzle-loaded single shots, breech-loaded single shots, bolt/pump/lever action single shots, and self-loading single shots, etc. ... but they are all nonetheless single-shot firearms.