What is an “assault weapon”?
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 pull of the trigger) and either fully automatic (the gun continues to fire bullet after bullet as long as the trigger is depressed) or three-shot-burst mode (the gun fires three bullets per pull of the trigger). Because “assault weapons,” as defined by state and federal law, are semiautomatic only and can fire in neither fully automatic mode nor three-shot-burst mode, they are not assault rifles. (THIS article explains the current United States laws restricting civilian ownership of fully automatic/burst-fire firearms—aka machine guns—and explains why those weapons are not part of the ongoing debate over gun control in America.)
Unfortunately, despite both “assault weapon” and “assault rifle” being clearly defined in the Associated Press Stylebook, 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.
“None of the assault rifles found on the battlefields of Afghanistan, Iraq, or Vietnam are available for sale in American sporting goods stores.”
Yet in Hollywood, all rifles that are used in movies tend to be automatic. Funny how none of the actors who want to ban rifles step up and demand that they aren’t used in their movies.
I have long supposed that the origin lies in NAZI Germany’s special weapon in World War II:
The Sturmgewehr (”Assault Rifle”) 44 [StG 44], a.k.a. Maschinenpistole 43 [MP 43] or Maschinenpistole 44 [MP 44].
It was a selective-fire weapon and, I opine, may have been the inspiration for the AK-47.
Well; some bozo manged to get it partly right in the newspaper the other day.
It read “assault-style rifle”.