A trio of Lyon County sheriff's deputies, two in uniform, practicing weapons training were surprised to allegedly hear and witness a nearby group of gun enthusiasts shoot off what they classified as an "automatic weapon" at the Carson City Rifle Range on Monday afternoon.
A call to the Carson City Sheriff's Department was made by one of the deputies shortly after noon - a pair of Carson City sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene at 12:15 p.m.
Upon asking the alleged automatic weapons (illegal to possess and shoot in Carson City) handlers to examine their arsenal, deputies concluded that the weapon in question, was legal.
"It's an AR-15 semi-automatic," said deputy Richard Pope. "You don't need a permit for these."
The trademark "AR-15" is registered to Colt Industries. Other manufacturers make AR-15 clones marketed under separate designations, although colloquially, these are often referred to as "AR-15."
According to online encyclopedia Wikipedia, semi-automatic and automatic variants of the AR-15 are identical in appearance.
"What they were shooting was legal," Pope said.