Assault Weapon, why I embrace that term...

[Aguila Blanca]

I said "weapon" because they want your "high-cap" handguns too...

I'm really not looking to pick a fight, especially if we're on the same side, but ... you didn't say "weapon." I wrote:

But "assault rifle" is a legitimate term.

In response to which you wrote:

I get what your saying, thats what I mean by sayin the term stuck...

I don't see anything about "weapon" in that exchange.

 

[Koda94]

I'm really not looking to pick a fight, especially if we're on the same side, but ... you didn't say "weapon."

my bad, I must have misread our exchange of comments. Not arguing either its just a forum conversation to me there are points I agree with from either side... I don't like the term "assault rifle" cause its being redefined by the anti's for their nefarious cause, but I also see how in the end it doesn't matter what anyone calls them... even if they stopped using the term because we are right they are still going after that 'type' of gun. I get why Skans is embracing the term is all, and Ive been in some conversations with middle grounders where trying to clarify the difference to them would be pointless because the whole gun control debate shouldn't be about the gun in the first place.

 

[ShootistPRS]

An "assault weapon" is any weapon used to assault another. A baseball bat, wood club, glass bottle, a fist or a thermonuclear bomb can all be assault weapons. If you aren't engaged in the action what you have is not an assault weapon.

 

[surveyor]

While I don't like made up terms that fit a specific agenda on either side,
And have resisted the use of either term,

The more I get to know the AR platform and build off of it, the less the term modern sporting rifle bothers me. Mainly because of all the diffrent calibers it can be configured in.

Yes some of these are hand load only propositions, but that does not diminish the fact that the AR platform is modular, and with a barrel, bolt and magazine change calibers from 22 to 45 can be used.

So while some may see a 223 with an adjustable stock and carbine length as one group of words describing it, others see a modular riflle that can shoot varmints,targets,deer and pigs in a varietiey of calibers specific to the users needs, and fitting.

So I can see the arguments for both sides, both positive as well as negative.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

The 2nd Amend. is not about sport - thus an instrument of sport can be regulated and banned.

So depending on state laws, what you use to hunt is controlled - ammo, mags, etc.

If the gun is used for competition or hunting fine - but why then do you need a 30 round clip of cop killer bullets to hunt a deer with your son? No they should be banned.

This is what conservative Morning Joe said on his TV show.

You cannot defend the guns for sport. This was tried in Australia. Every Australian is supposed to have a sport. The gun folks there never made the rights or SD arguments to any large extent. They should - Don't take away my sport.

Well, they did. UK has a similar tale and even sporting usages were heavily curtailed.

 

[Koda94]

The 2nd Amend. is not about sport - thus an instrument of sport can be regulated and banned.

exactly. And thats why Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR) is an oxymoron for gun owners to use. In reality, assault rifle really is the most accurate, technically a modified assault rifle removing full auto. Were not buying them because they are "safer", less lethal, or better suited for hunting. The military even finally understands the full auto is not the primary mode to use. We buy them because the 2nd Amendment would be pointless if we didn't have the same arms the gov't has to fight against tyranny.

The OP has a valid point about embracing the word.

 

[44 AMP]

An "assault weapon" is any weapon used to assault another. A baseball bat, wood club, glass bottle, a fist or a thermonuclear bomb can all be assault weapons. If you aren't engaged in the action what you have is not an assault weapon.

This is ONE definition allowed in English. There are others, more germane to the issue.

one more time, for the record (cue the choir...)

ASSAULT RIFLE

coined by Adolph Hitler in 1944, renaming the MP44 (MaschinenPistole =submachinegun) the Sturmgewehr (Assault rifle). Assault in this term is used in the military sense, such as assaulting an objective. Sturm means "storm" and context determines if the storm is weather like a snowstorm or storm in the military sense, storming an objective.

The term Assault Rifle has been applied to weapons in the same class as the Sturmgewehr by both the military and shooting communities since then.

Defining features of the class are select fire capability, and firing an "intermediate" cartridge (one in between a standard WWII pistol round and rifle round in power)


ASSAULT WEAPON
a term made up by anti gun forces, and codified into Federal Law (and several states) in 1994. In LAW this term covers SEMIAUTOMATIC firearms, (rifle, pistol, & shotgun) if they have a given number of features on the list in the law. Features include (but not limited to) detatchable magazine, pistol grip, folding stock, bayonet lug, forward pistol grip, heat shield/handguard, flash suppressor, etc.

The anti's DELIBERATELY chose a term nearly identical to, and easily confused with "assault rifle".

I have no issues embracing assault rifle, IF you use the term CORRECTLY.

 

[ShootistPRS]

Let's not forget that we have a right to keep and bear arms. This is not a federal, state, or local privilege, it is a right. Since it is not provided by the governments and is a birth right, the governments have no lawful authority over it. Just as they have no lawful authority over which religion we practice or where and when we can practice it.

If we freely give up our rights and allow the governments to control them it is our fault not the governments.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

The anti's DELIBERATELY chose a term nearly identical to, and easily confused with "assault rifle".

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

 

[Bourbon Fan]

RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.

When we shy away from terms like Assault Rifle, trying to disown it as if the term could bury our cause, we embolden the Anti's weapon of ridicule. I am well aware of the origin of the terms "Assault Weapon" and "Assault Rifle". This history is boring and irrelevant to most people who have never even fired a gun. This is their trap!


This is exactly what I've been saying to my friends. No one outside of the gun circles cares about the semantics. If it looks like a military style firearm, then its an 'assault rifle' or 'assault weapon'. Trying to convince the average American that an AR-15 is a 'sporting rifle' (or whatever we're calling it now), is pointless. You'll do nothing but frustrate yourself and alienate the person your trying to converse with if waste your breath arguing this detail.
And who cares if it IS an 'assault weapon'? The 2nd amendment exists so citizens will have a firearm for which they can assault foreign and domestic threats. I have no problem owning this term for my own rifles.