Almost every time I talk to somebody who knows almost nothing about guns, they inevitably say something like... "I'm not totally against guns, I just don't think civilians should be able to buy "military grade" weapons of war". For those that I sense will listen, I explain to them that "military grade" is a marketing term, simple as that, nothing more. Ford advertises "military grade aluminum" for their truck frames. Really? As stupid as I personally think some marketing is, it works. I'm sure someone is going to think that if his/her truck frame is military grade, it would be able to withstand the rigors or war. Nonsense. When I was in the military early 70's, I was familiar with mil-spec... EVERYTHING from my canteen to my sleeping bag to every nut and bolt on my 60 ton M88 tank retriever has a mil-spec, meaning it had to conform to some specification certifying that it has a certain hardness or conformed to a certain physical specification. There are thousands if not millions of mil-specs. My mil-spec bayonet was exactly xyz ounces, had steel of xyz hardness etc etc. That did NOT mean it was the best quality, not by any means. It meant the lowest bidder that could meet that specification made it! So... mil-spec doesn't exactly exude premium quality, and "military grade" means practically nothing. But I hear gun enthusiasts, even some folks on this forum use it from time to time. Aren't we feeding the tons of misinformation we get from the mainstream media every day concerning guns when we do? Perhaps I'm being naive.