I am new to the AR game but when is pulling the charging handle known as racking.
And the second thing is that, well in my case, when I put a magazine into an unloaded AR.
I just push the button on the side to close the bolt.
Though my understanding is that Kyle already had loaded the rifle and Defense made the point if Kyle pulled the charging handle back, there should have been a live round at the scene.
Charging the gun is key because the prosecution has to argue Grosskreutz pulling his gun on Kyle was self defense for him. He testified he only pulled his gun after Kyle primed his rifle to fire at him.
This was a critical error though. The best analogy I have is from legally blond where the hot chick nails the male prosecutor over his knowlege of perms. In this case though it's over a pair of soy boys over their knowlege of Armalite Rifles.
Armalite Rifles have the firing mechanism attached to a pull device. The titular "racking". (This is not the term). It's called the charging handle. The charging handle controls the position of the firing mechanism in the arming chamber.
An Armalite Rifle is loaded in two ways. The charging handle is pulled to the back, removing the firing mechanism and leaving the arming chamber open. The magazine is then inserted. The charging handle is then released slamming the firing mechanism foreword. This chambers the round and the weapon is ready to fire. After this the action of firing will reload more rounds from the magazine without further action.
This is what is key when Kyle told the prosecution the AR already had a round chambered. He did not need to do anything else to fire the gun that night.
This contradicts Grosskreutz' self defense claim. Because he claimed he only pulled his gun after Kyle pulled the Charging Handle on his AR. In soy speak, he "racked" the gun.
The prosecution wanted to imply to the jury that this was just like cocking a colt revolver. A necessary action to prime the weapon for action. But this is NOT how Armalite Rifles work. An Armalite Rifle is ready to go the moment a round is chambered. No further action is needed.
The only time a charging handle needs to be engaged is if a new Magazine is being reloaded...which Grosskreautz never testified Kyle did, or if there is a malfunction in the chamber.
Since Kyle was NOT reloading, the only reason for him to engage the charging handle was to correct a firing malfunction. And if he did that, part of the function of pulling the charging handle would be to disengage the firing mechanism and expel the bad round to the ground, before reloading a new round from the magazine.
This goes to the heart of Grosskreautzs' self defense claim. If there is no live round, Kyle never engaged the charging handle. Which means not only is he lying about Kyle, but when he pulled his gun he was the aggressor, not Kyle.