Don’t you wish they would come up with a new term other than “assault rifle”?

[arizonasunshine]

It’s such an ambiguous term. (Yes, I know what they are, but it’s still a dumb term.)

[Lliam]

"Assault weapon" had been a defined term referring to military weapons that had selective fire capability. They had a switch with "safety", "semiautomatic", and "full automatic". Some also had 3 shot burst capability. They were machine guns and were not legal to own or sell to civilians unless a person had a special license.

Then some gun-control propagandist invented the term "'military-style' assault weapon" to fool people into thinking that if a semiautomatic rifle looks like a machine gun, it must be a machine gun.

"Military-style assault weapon" had no definition. It was based on appearance, not function. So things like composite, ergonomic stocks, barrel shrouds and flash suppressors came to define military-style assault weapon".

Democrat gun-grabbers and media found the term "military-style assault weapon" cumbersome, so they conveniently abbreviated it to "assault weapon", which is a misnomer.

"Assault weapon" sounds so scary!
Too bad that what they call an "assault weapon" happens to be the most popular rifle platform used for hunting and other legal activities.

The bottom line is, semiautomatics have been around since the late 19th century. Even before that, 6 shooters and other kinds of firearms were essentially semiautomatic.

A semiautomatic is a semiautomatic (one shot per trigger pull), no matter what it looks like. But those who want to ban so-called "assault weapons" don't know how guns work and wouldn't know a bolt from a bore.

Gun control advocates are liars. They even twist statistics and hide information that doesn't help their cause.
They will use any tactic to subvert the Second Amendment and they won't stop trying.

[Lliam]

Thank you for the MHO!

[arizonasunshine]

You are welcome

[Pohjolan]

Its not ambiguous. Some dumbasses are using it incorrectly but that doesn't require a new term by itself.

By definition a assault rifle is a magazine fed, intermediate calibre rifle with selective fire.

Like a semi-automatic AR-15 is not a assault rifle.

[WindAtMyBack]

The confusion comes from the difference between an "assault rifle" and an "assault weapon".

An Assault rifle is an actual thing. An assault weapon is a vague and misleading term that anti-gun people use that doesn't actually have any meaning. "Assault weapon" is very misleading and surrounded by TONS of misinformation.

"Assault weapon" can be used by the anti-gun crowd precisely because it doesn't actually have a meaning. So they can use the term for implied lies. The most common implied lie is that they are fully automatic weapons or machine guns. They are not. They are just regular rifles that fire one shot with one pull of the trigger, like any other rifle.

Another lie is that assault rifles/weapons are high power rifles. The exact opposite is true. Real assault rifles are intentionally lower power, not higher power.

[FreyaRed]

Intermediate cartridge rifle. StG 44, father of modern "assault rifles"
was called Mittel Patronen Geweher, before it got the name "Sturmgewehr" [Assault rifle] 44 by nazi leadership who looked desperately for a "Wunder Waffe".
Term Assault Rifle is a product of Nazi desperation

[arizonasunshine]

And MSNBC gets it wrong every time, thus the question

[MuddyMole]

The media always seem to go with "assault style rifle" to differentiate between the two, since they got tired of being corrected by pedantic gun nuts. I'm not sure it makes much difference though - either one is perfectly sufficient to murder a classroom of highschool students with, and that's nearly always the context in which you'll hear the term.

[goaded]

That's unfair. They're quite often used in elementary schools and churches, too.

[Dargil]

There is. Its called a Carbine. A shorter, lighter, lower caliber rifle. The real assault rifle is a 50 cal Sniper rifle. Now the M4 is a Carbine.. Back then, a Sharps was and is a real assault riffle. A winchester 94 cowboy rifle was/is a Carbine. So now you know.

[Cormac995]

I don't know, I kind of like it. When I hear the word assault in the context of a rifle it makes me think of storming Normandy or rushing trench lines with bayonets. It's a rifle for an assault.

[arizonasunshine]

I’m a pretty bad ass with a slingshot. If you don’t believe me, just ask the grasshoppers.

[Shiprex]

When there are thousands of "targets" you could say your basketball is an "area" assault weapon like artillery but then you'd sound even more like a tit.

[Cormac995]

@Shiprex Why do so many people just have to be a jack ass for no reason sheesh.

[Cormac995]

For the record slingshots are fun ignore this guy. It's not your fault he's too bitter to have fun.

[Just_Ken]

No. The orginial term comes from the German WW2 rifle STG44 which was designed for assaulting.

[Just_Ken]

Most civilians can't own an assault rifle.

[Hagar88]

Goes back to the Sturmgewehr 44, the first assault rifle, named so by Hitler.

[seeyounexttuesday]

you don’t know what an assault weapon is because it isn’t a real term.

[arizonasunshine]

It’s a retarded term that retarded people love to use.

[Shiprex]

Assault as in an armed assault nothing to do with physically assaulting a person. It's because the firearm is capable of firing shots rapidly without stopping to reload as in how soldiers would "assault" a position.

[Syntosi]

@Shiprex Also because its smaller size and intermediate cartridge as well as magazine size makes it suitable for assaulting enemy positions as opposed to normal rifles or sub-machine guns. A rifle is different from an assault rifle in many key aspects, most of which involves the assault rifle having many useful aspects when closing distance and fighting in short range.

[seeyounexttuesday]

@Shiprex wow there are guns you never need to reload? Amazing.

[arizonasunshine]

@seeyounexttuesday
Remember that mass shooting in Mandalay Bay Las Vegas. That guy used a semi automatic with a bumper stock. So you could shoot very rapidly, but I guess it’s not an assault rifle because it wasn’t intended for that. A lot of dead people felt like they were assaulted, but I don’t think they were.

[Pohjolan]

No you are wrong.
By definition a assault rifle is a magazine fed, intermediate calibre rifle with selective fire.

[exitseven]

a rose by any other name.

[BonzoInBitburg]

Killing rifle seems more accurate.

[Chazmatazz269]

Is there a rifle that isn’t designed to kill?

[Pohjolan]

@Chazmatazz269
Biathlon rifles for a example. They still sting like hell though.