MSNBC host and gun control fanatic Lawrence O'Donnell acknowledged he is quite unfamiliar with the different varieties of shotguns Thursday on "The Last Word."
Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) briefly explained the different types to O'Donnell:
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: How old were you when you got that?
JOE MANCHIN: I was about 12. And then you got a .410, a .410 is a small shotgun. And I got that and then moved up to the 12 --
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: I'm nodding like I know what a .410 is, because you know in my neighborhood there were a lot of them.
JOE MANCHIN: You've got the .410, 16-gauge and 12-gauge. And then a 12-gauge is your highest.
Ignorance among gun control activists about firearms has been pervasive throughout the gun control debate.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed last December he did not know the distinction between an automatic and semi-automatic weapon:
Rep. Diana Degette (D., Colo.) stumbled through an explanation of firearms magazines after introducing legislation to restrict high capacity magazines in April:
President Obama said in an April California fundraiser Adam Lanza used a "fully automatic weapon" at Sandy Hook Elementary:
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Now, over the next couple of months, we’ve got a couple of issues: gun control. (Applause.) I just came from Denver, where the issue of gun violence is something that has haunted families for way too long, and it is possible for us to create common-sense gun safety measures that respect the traditions of gun ownership in this country and hunters and sportsmen, but also make sure that we don’t have another 20 children in a classroom gunned down by a semiautomatic weapon -- by a fully automatic weapon in that case, sadly.
Full interview: