Outrage of the Week: Jesse Jackson Claims Semi-Autos can "Blow Up Railroads"

This week's outrage comes to us courtesy of the anti-gun Reverend Jesse Jackson.  Rev. Jackson is not in the news as much now as he once was.  When you do hear from him, though, his comments are still laced with his usual dose of hyperbole. 

That predictable pattern continues with Rev. Jackson's recent comments on semi-automatic firearms.

According to an article appearing on TheBlaze.com last month, Rev. Jackson believes that semi-automatic firearms must be banned because they could "shoot down planes" and therefore constitute a risk to national security.

The Blaze ran a follow-up story debunking the claim, but that didn't seem to deter Rev. Jackson, as this week he boldly declared that, in addition to shooting down planes, semi-automatic firearms could also be used to "blow up railroads."

"You know that these weapons can shoot down airplanes, they can blow up railroads. This is really a whole national security issue," Rev. Jackson said in a recent interview on Fox News.  Blow up railroads?  What in the world is he basing that claim on?

If Rev. Jackson is interested in the facts and wants to return this debate back to earth, he should know that semi-automatic firearms were introduced in the late 1800s, and have been popular for self-defense, hunting and target shooting ever since.  Forty percent of all uses of firearms for self-defense are performed with semi-automatic handguns, and all firearms used in the annual National Rifle and Pistol Trophy Matches are semi-automatic.

Though he seems to know very little about semi-automatic firearms, we assume that we will continue to hear Rev. Jackson make outrageous claims about this issue in the future.  No doubt Jackson won't be able to help himself, as he craves the spotlight to continue to push his agenda, using bizarre and truly outrageous claims. 

The anti-gunners--including Rev. Jackson--will stop at nothing to get what they want:  a ban on your lawfully owned firearms.  They will literally say anything they think will help them achieve their goal.