I am very much a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, but the weapon the kid was carrying is exactly the weapon banned by the assault weapon law.The SKS was not covered by the Clinton-era ban. AK-47 derivatives were, but the SKS preceded the AK-47, and did not meet the specifications of the ban. And, as others have pointed out, it was never "full-auto" capable. If it had been somehow modified to fire three-round bursts, he would have had to reload five times, which seems unlikely. I suspect the witnesses were in error.
“AK-47 derivatives were...”
Not all AK-47 derivatives were covered. There were plenty of post-1994 AK derivatives (WASR and SAR being very popular) available that met the 1994 AWB rules. They weren’t allowed to have flash hiders or bayonet lugs, but otherwise were semi-auto AK clones. My wife bought me one in 2002 for Christmas.
The magazine on an SKS holds ten rounds.
If the magazine is modified to a banana clip, it holds 30 rounds.
One trigger pull, one round at a time.
I thnk the banana clip makes the weapon look like a machine gun. So if it looks like a machine gun, and fires bullets, it has to be a machine gun assult rifle /sarc