There's the problem. Since "assault weapon" sounds bad, people that hear that on TV lean towards the left.
A lot of people confuse assault weapon with assault rifle. Assault Rifles are only legal with a Class III NFA. In some states, it's easy to get one, some it's harder or impossible, but they are legal in most states. Those fire full-auto and semi-auto. The amount of crimes in the past 50 years by those with Class III's. One, by a cop.
Assault WEAPONS are really no different than regular firearms. They LOOK mean and scary, but that's it. On another thread, 2 Civillian version(non full auto) AR-15 pictures were shown. One was legal. Another was an assault weapon. It was because of the grip or flash suppressor on the gun. The average person, and even myself could not tell the difference.
I call the Assault Weapons ban the Ugly Gun ban. MY definition of an assault weapon is any weapon that is used in an assault.