assault weapon

While it is a term that can be and has been legally defined (unlike "home invasion"), it is not a term the army uses. They also never called anything a main battle rifle, either.
 
I always thought assault weapons were guns suitable for military use, with full-auto capability. By that definition, what the public and press are reviling are not assault weapons, but simply semi-automatic rifles that look like military weapons
 
Which definition would you like? There are more than 1, which explains much of the confusion.

Technical description:
"An individual weapon, having selective fire capacity with a detachable high capacity magazine firing an intermediate power cartridge. It sholuld be light enough, & the cartridge powerfull enough to allow for short bursts of controlled full auto fire onto a target out to about 300 yds."
As you can see there are actually very few that meet this spec.

Then there's the current politically motivated revised description:
"Anything we think is scary,or looks anything like those things fitting the description above". Vague definition at best, but it seems features like bayonet lugs, threaded muzzles, detachable high capacity magazines capable of holding hundreds of boolitts that can be fired in bursts of hundreds of rounds a second are part of the description as are things like pistol grips & the infamous "Shoulder thing that goes up"
 
Any rifle or pistol, from the flint lock to the 50 Cal Browning.

To make it an assualt rifle, attach one or more of the three names:

AR

AK

Glock
 
Assault Weapon is not a term generally used by gun owners who are pro-2nd Amendment and fairly knowledgeable about firearms in general. It is a term that is used by various groups seeking to ban guns or impose more restrictions on gun ownership, and often the general public that is not very knowledgeable about various types of firearms, and how they actually work.

It's like labeling a Camaro a "race car"; a Remington 700 30-06 a "sniper rifle"; a large kitchen knife an "assault knife"; or a hammer a "mace".

Guns are usually classified by the way they work, like:

Lever-action / repeaters
Semi-automatic
Bolt Action
Select-Fire (full-auto or semi-auto selectable via a switch)
Single Action, Double Action, Double Action Only
Striker fired / Hammer fired
Revolver
And, when you get into shotguns, they have names describing what type based on their barrel configuration and action type.

So, "assault weapon" is really a very politically weighted phrase used by special interest groups determined to heavily restrict and/or ban guns altogether.
 
Seems to me an "assault" weapon is one that is adapted to the type of combat wherein an individual or group make an armed assault on a position or positions held by an enemy who are equipped to defend themselves and their position by force of arms. The assaulting individual or team needs weapons that are light, easy to handle and are built to allow a firm one-handed grip (if necessary) while running, jumping and whatever other quick, athletic maneuvers the soldier needs to make in the action; of a caliber that's lethal without having heavy recoil so as to maintain aim or point; is a semi- or full automatic allowing rapid discharges; and with a magazine capacity that is large enough to allow sustained firing before reloading.
 
It is a meaningless term. Pay no attention to people who like to use the term. Watch a Cowboy Action Shooting match sometime and see how fast it is possible to cycle a Winchester lever gun. No one would call that an "assault weapon" but it can be pretty effective in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing.
 
You can't shoot a lever gun with one hand rapidly while charging someone shooting at you, unless you're in the movies or on TV. Ask the combat people clearing a village what sort of weapon they'd rather have than the ones they do. They got the name "assault" weapon because they were designed to be effective and easy to use when making assaults in combat operations. "Assault" weapon is a nickname, not an official designation, and what it's best suited for can be seen clearly by its configuration.
 
Assault weapon = Full Auto M4

Assault style weapon = Semi-Auto rifles, AR15, AK-47

Not my choice of words but what they usually banter around.
 
It is a meaningless technical distinction now. As a member of the choir, your important points are:

1. The current guns are not fully auto - that is misunderstood.
2. The counterpoint is that as semis they can hold lots of rounds and fired quickly but not full auto.
3. They are derivatives of military guns or military uses full auto versions of them.
4. Their appearance is viewed negatively.

Arguing that a civilian AR is not dangerous as it is not a technical assault rifle will get you nowhere, as will chortling that someone called a magazine a clip.

The debate is more serious than that.
 
I'm afraid I disagree.

Words & the meaning of those words does matter. Part of the chess game being currently played is the re-defining of words, so keping a clear definition is important.

As an example look at the way the term "Assault Rifle" has tranfigured to "Assault Pistol" & then to "Assault Weapon" in the last few decades. That has allowed the anti-gun owners to add large numbers of firearms that were never concidered assault anything into the redefined category created by adjusting the wordage used.

Just a few years ago calling a 1911 pistol an assault weapon was laughable, but no so today. This has allowed things like MD's redefinition of an "Assault weapon" to define a self-loading rifle as a pistol, thus making it a restricted item.

No, we need to rertain clear meanings to words.
 
Words & the meaning of those words does matter.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have been really irritated with the way many seem to be demonizing the term semi-auto as if it was some kind of extraordinary firearm. I know many of the antis know this includes most of the widely use firearms in America, but the average person may not and this makes it easier one day go after even the venerable 1911.
 
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