A firearm is a compact gun that causes damage to the target by discharging one or more bullets powered by hastily expanding high-pressure gas formed through the combustion of gunpowder. Firearms are classified in three broad categories: handguns, long guns, and those that cannot be operated by a single person.
The handgun is the smallest type of firearm and is classified into five categories: Single shot pistols, revolvers, multi-barreled pistols, semi-automatic pistols, and automatic pistols (Smith, 2002). The single shot pistol discharges one explosive round of ammunition followed by a manual reload. Multi-barreled pistols contain more than one barrel to increase the rate of fire. Revolvers allow the operator to multi-load through rotating the cartridge-filled cylinder. It is the most accurate type of handgun and possesses powerful forms of ammunition. Semi-automatic pistols use the energy of discharge to reload the chamber for a shot while automatic pistols rapidly fire with one simple depression of the trigger.
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The long gun category comprises of all firearms designed with long barrels and requires operation with both arms (Walker, 2013). The barrels vary from 10 to 30 inches with a trigger and a receiver mounted into metal or wood. Long guns are classified into two categories: Shotguns and rifles. Shotguns use energy from a fixed shell to fire multiple projectiles. They vary in sizes ranging from a 5.5-millimeter bore to 5-centimeter bore. Shotguns, however, offer a limited penetration of the shot hence used on short ranged targets. A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed with a helical pattern of grooves cut into the walls of the gun. Modern rifles are classified as semi-automatic, single shot, bolt action, and automatic. The rifle is used for precise shooting and aiming of individual targets.
The third category consists of all firearms that require more than one person to operate. The most common type is the heavy machine gun designed to fire shots in rapid successions from a magazine. They are fully automatic weapons and are generally operated when attached to a tripod or placed on the ground. The increased weight is due to their capability of providing a large destructive power and penetration.
References
Smith, P. D. (2000). U.S. Patent No. 6,152,338 . Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Walker, R. E. (2013). Cartridges and Firearm Identification . Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
