Mr. Philip Slattery:

We are at the stage in firearms development where it is tradition versus evolution. In terms of the development of firearms, realistically we are now going as far as lasers. Firearms cannot develop any more so a lot of manufacturers have moved to a semi-automatic platform. That means every time one pulls the trigger, one has a one round fire. For a fully automatic platform, every time one pulls the trigger and as long as one holds back the trigger, the firearm or weapon, depending on its use, will continue to fire until there is no more ammunition or it jams. In the past it was perceived that bolt action rifles were far more accurate than semi-automatic rifles. Nowadays, several manufacturers produce semi-automatic rifles that are as accurate if not more so than a lot of bolt action rifles on the market. We must legislate for this development or we will be left in the dark again.