Eric Bolling: Shooting '4 or 5 rounds per second' is a constitutional right

Fox News host Eric Bolling on Friday insisted that assault-style rifles which can shoot "four or five rounds per second" were "protected under the Constitution."

In his weekly appearance on Fox & Friends, Fox News host Geraldo Rivera predicted that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden would be successful in enacting some measures to control gun violence after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but it would be difficult to ban weapons like the Bushmaster AR-15 that was used to slaughter 20 children.

"There really is some movement now for the first time in many decades to have some meaningful reform," he explained. "What I don't expect -- I think it's a long shot, I think the Second Amendment advocates are very strong, they have an excellent case constitutionally -- and it's going to be very, very difficult to ban assault-style weapons. I would love to see them banned except for sanctioned gun clubs, law enforcement and the military."

"You need to address, when you say assault-style weapons," Bolling interrupted. "Because most people understand an assault weapon is currently, not necessarily banned, but almost impossible to own as a civilian."

"You're talking about a fully automatic," Rivera pointed out. "But you're also enough of a gun advocate to know that with a semi-automatic, you can get off four or five rounds per second."

"Absolutely," Bolling agreed. "And that's protected under the constitution. And why are they even putting that in discussions?"

"When does the liberal left say, 'Enough, semi-automatic rifles are banned'? Boom. Then one day, they say, 'You know what? Semi-automatic handguns are illegal also,'" he added.

"Why do you need 30 rounds in the clip of your Glock [handgun], in the clip of you 9 mm?" Rivera wondered. "Why do you need 30 rounds? What are you going to do with 30 rounds in your pistol?"

The Fox News morning show then played a 2008 clip of then-candidates Biden and Obama promising not to take people's shotguns, which was accompanied by a red siren and a graphic that read, "Hypocrisy Alert."

"A lot of people are afraid that one thing is going to lead to another," co-host Steve Doocy opined.

"I think that paranoia is unfortunate," Rivera replied. "I think when you examine those people who are stocking up arsenals of AR-15s and .223 Bushmasters, they are often people who are so deeply suspicious of their own government that it is bitterly ironic that these are the same people who claim a mantel of patriotism."

Watch this video from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast Jan. 11, 2013.