What IS and what IS NOT an Assault Weapon
I was watching a popular TV show the other night and the police where searching a suspects car, in the trunk they found an AR-15. One of the actors said “he has an AR-15 Assault Rifle”.
Even the writers on these popular TV shows are misinforming the public, either on purpose or by their own ignorance.
Misinformation. It’s everywhere. It is even more pervasive – and dangerous – when people who don’t understand what they are talking about try to teach other people what it is they don’t know themselves.
Case in point: the assault Rifle.
Every time there is a tragic murder involving firearms reporters, politicians and even celebrities feel the need to share their opinions about guns. More often than not, these talking heads know nothing about the subject other than that a gun shoots bullets and that they can be deadly. What’s worse is that average Joe’s and Jane’s believe the misinformation and take it as fact, when in truth it’s not even close to being accurate.
It is debated whether the term “assault weapon” which entered the American lexicon in the late 1980s, originated as a political ploy by gun control advocates or as a marketing ploy by gun retailers. What is certain is that “assault weapon” is not a technical term, a term of art used by firearm manufactures, or a military term. The closest match in any of those categories is the term “assault rifle,” which is a military term referring to a medium-caliber, shoulder-fired rifle that allows the shooter to select between semiautomatic mode (the gun fires one bullet per one pull of the trigger) and either fully automatic mode (the gun continues to fire as long as the trigger is depressed) or three-shot-burst mode (the gun fires three bullets per one pull of the trigger). Because "assault weapons," as defined by state and federal law, are semiautomatic only and can fire in neitherfully automatic mode northree-shot-burst mode, they are notassault rifles.
Unfortunately, despite "assault weapon" and "assault rifle" being clearly defined in the Associated Press Style book (prior to 2013, the AP's definition of "assault weapon" even included the warning "Not synonymous with assault rifle"), the media often conflates these two similar-sounding phrases—using "assault rifle" when they mean "assault weapon"—thereby further confusing the public on the relationship between so-called "assault weapons" and true weapons of war.
None of the assault rifles found on the battlefields of Afghanistan, Iraq, or Vietnam are available for sale in American sporting goods stores.In fact, of all the guns for sale at your local sporting goods store, the three most likely to have been found on any of those battlefields are -
Remington 700 bolt-action hunting rifle (used by US snipers since the 1960s)
Colt M1911 pistol (used by US troops since the early 1900s)
Beretta M9 pistol (used by US troops since the 1980s).
In the aftermath of the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas shooting
(which was NOT the worst mass shooting in US history), A MOMENT of SILENCE FOR WOUNDED KNEE PLEASE …….
The debate over "bump stocks," which turn a semiautomatic rifle into a pseudo-automatic rifle capable of closely matching the rate of fire of a fully automatic firearm, clearly illustrates the difference in lethality between semiautomatic and fully automatic fire. An analysisby The New York Timescompared a short audio clip of a fully automatic rifle at a firing range with short clips from the Las Vegas shooting and the June 12, 2016, shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL. Over seven seconds, the fully automatic rifle maintained a rate of fire of 14 rounds per second. Over 10 seconds, the Las Vegas shooter's pseudo-automatic rifle maintained a rate of fire of nine rounds per second. Over nine seconds, the Orlando shooter's semiautomatic rifle maintained a rate of fire of 2.7 rounds per second (an exceptionally fast rate of fire for a semiautomatic rifle but still only 1/3 the rate of the pseudo-automatic rifle and 1/5 the rate of the fully automatic rifle).
That being said – What is an AR-15 ??
FIRST : AR does not stand for Assault Rifle
The “AR” in AR-15 is assumed to mean “assault rifle”. It does not. Period. Just because Piers Morgan or Oprah said that’s what it stands for it doesn’t mean that they are right. The “AR” comes from the firearms manufacturer Armalite. Those letters are used as a standard naming practice for their firearms. Just like the Ford F-150, the AR-15 is a specific model. AR means nothing more than that it is a firearm model identifier. Just like there’s an F-250 and an F-350, there’s also an AR-10 and an AR-30. So, let’s stop referring to an AR-15 as an “assault rifle”. It is not an assault rifle.
SECOND : What IS and assault rifle ??
An assault rifle is a rifle that :
Has selectable firing modes (Semi-Automatic, Burst (3 rounds), Full Automatic)
THIRD : Machine Guns (Assault Rifles) are not readily available to the public.
TO CLEAR THINGS UP :
An AR-15 is nothing more than a Semi-Automatic SPORTING RIFLE that only shoots as fast as the trigger is pulled. NO SOLDIER ON A BATTLE FIELD IS CARRYING AN AR-15 ! PERIOD.
What is an Assault Rifle :
US Military M4 / M16 line
Mossberg MMR
Everything in the AK line from AK-5 to AK-107
Beretta ARX160
HK G41
HK416
The list goes on and on..
Another thing to consider is most all ‘assault rifle’ ammunition is significantly less powerful that common hunting rounds.
Case in point - compare a standard hunting round (30-06) with a standard assault rifle round (7.62x39)
Hope this clears up the confusion of what IS and IS NOT an assault rifle.
