[SWAMPSNIPER]

"Assault weapons" are being targeted first because they are sort of ominous in appearance and it is easier to spread fear of them.

If they succeed in banning "assault rifles" they will move right on to something else, until there is nothing else to ban.

It is a waste of time to consider liberal claims that they don't want to ban all guns, it is a lie, they don't even like sharp points on knives.

[Peet]

"Assault weapons" are being targeted first because they are sort of ominous in appearance and it is easier to spread fear of them.

  "The semi-automatic weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's
   confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic
   assault weapons anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to
   be a machine gun can only increase that chance of public support for
   restrictions on these weapons."
                       --  Josh Sugarman, 1988, Violence Policy Center.