What is an Assault Weapon? As a Federal Firearms Licensee I get this question a lot, even from people who have owned firearms all their adult lives. The technical answer is, an Assault Weapon,(in this particular case a rifle) is any shoulder fired rifle capable of full automatic or burst fire (usually 3 round burst) via intentional manipulation of a selector switch located on the receiver of the weapon. Now for the laymen, lets break this down a bit.
Full automatic mode (like what is commonly referred to as a machine gun) is when you pull the trigger one time and hold it back and the weapon continues to fire until empty or the shooter releases the trigger. (Military)
Semi-automatic mode is one pull of the trigger one bullet fired. (what we civilians can own)
Burst mode is one pull of the trigger and usually 3 bullets fired. (Military)
All of the rifles that the main stream media and many politicians label as Assault Weapons or Machine guns are not. There are similarities but most are only cosmetic and those cosmetics have absolutely no impact on how the bullet is fired from that gun. For instance...you can buy what is called a "kit car" that looks exactly like a Ferrari, but has the engine out of a VW Bug. This kit car may look like it can go 200 mph, but looks do not add up to speed. It is the same with rifles that LOOK like an assault weapon.
The very first Assault rifle was developed by Germany during WW2, it was called the STG 44. It was selective fire and used an intermediate cartridge. An intermediate cartridge is a rifle cartridge that has significantly greater power than a pistol/personal defense weapon cartridge, but still has a reduced muzzle energy compared to a full power rifle cartridge. An intermediate cartridge such as the STG fired, was designed to be effective up to a few hundred meters, where as battle rifles of the time were designed to be effective over a thousand meters. That is still the case today. Hollywood loves to exploit this and in many movies the firearms are made to look more powerful thatn they really are.
I know I'm being very technical here and I hope I have not lost any readers, but it is very important to point all of this out. The media treats any shooting like it is the aftermath of a John Wick movie. They outright lie and sensationalize to make people want to watch their pathetic attempt at news. The military's AR-15 (their designation is M-16. there are many versions of this weapon, but I'm sticking to the basic platform) looks exactly in many respects like the civilian version. I have explained the differences above, but no matter the media will keep reporting like these two rifles are one in the same, but functionality wise they are completely different. We have the internet and I wish people would use it more often to expose the lies told by the media and certain politicians.
Another bothersome thing is the anti-gun side tries very hard to demonize those of us who own firearms, and they really do their worst to those of us who own sporting rifles that look scary. The popular AR-15 is one of the most versatile gun platforms and designs ever created. Let us clear up one thing right now...The AR part. The AR in AR-15 stands for Armalite Rifle. This is the company that the designer Eugene Stoner worked for when he created the rifle. Over the years people have made up some very misconstrued names for the AR designation. If you want to know more there are literally hours, probably weeks of reading material about the AR-15 and its brethren on the internet.
This rifle is used for everything from home protection to pest control, competitive shooting, to putting food on the table. Its looks are not why so many people own one it is because of its tremendous versatility. Some people can only afford one gun, and they choose the AR family of rifles because they can do so much. The nasty demonization by those who hate guns of the AR, has been damaging and completely misleading. As a gun owner and as a gun business owner, it is important to speak out on this matter to help set the record straight. When you get right down to it America does not have a gun problem, it has a lack of respect problem. A lack of respect for our fellow man, and a lack of respect for firearms. People need to educate themselves on the power, and dangers of firearms, and the responsibility that comes with owning and/or using a firearm, any firearm. I was taught by my family at an early age about firearms, we do not have that culture today like there was 50 years ago. People today do have resources to learn about firearms there are many classes available that teach everything from the basics all the way to the very advanced shooting techniques.
The thing to always remember is this....the gun does nothing, it is only a tool, the person holding that gun is the one responsible for its use. Guns cannot operate on their own, and we have seen stories from all over the world of people causing harm to others and they use anything as a weapon, banning firearms doesn't matter if you can't change behaivior. In truth, an Assault Weapon is anything used to harm another human being.
