Now we have.............

[Arkady Kobach]

.............."Assault pistols", at least according to according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna, who wrote:

"The weapon that we recovered at that second scene I am describing as a magazine-fed semiautomatic assault pistol. Not an assault rifle, but an assault pistol that had an extended large capacity magazine attached to it."

Will it never end?

 

[44 AMP]

it will only end when the people making statements to the press, AND the press know, understand, and CARE about using the correct terminology.

If you piled every inaccurate statement from police officers, officials, spokesmen and sources, on top of each other, you might not reach the moon but I'd bet you could achieve low earth orbit

Our real problem is when the people writing and passing laws don't know, understand, or CARE about using correct terminology. And along with that, the BS terms they do use becoming valid terms in law.

Accuracy of terminology means nothing to those people. Historical use means little to nothing. As long as those people are in the positions they are in, the problems will continue.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Will it never end?

Will what never end?

 

[ballardw]

Isn't any weapon used in an actual assault an "assault weapon"?

 

[BobCat45]

Yes, I think any particular weapon actually used in an assault can be characterized as an "assault weapon" - but to be clear, I do not mean every weapon of that type or design, only that particular individual weapon.

I do not know the OP from Adam's housecat so can't speak for him, but I think the "it" in "Will it never end" refers to the creation of meaningless labels that can be used to justify 'banning' things - like rifles or pistols that can accept a removable box magazine. Admittedly I just read the story on AP News and had the same reaction as the OP, to the phrase "assault pistol".

At the risk of going off into the weeds, how about this article:
https://www.ibtimes.sg/six-people-including-3-children-die-india-after-their-throats-are-slit-open-by-kite-strings-68663
Is it time to ban assault kites? For the Children? If it only saves one life?


Small update: Just read that one of the guns was a Cobray with a 30 round mag.

This does not excuse the blatant fearmongering but does help explain the made-up term "assault pistol" in that the Cobray is designed to mimic the appearance of a SMG, rather than just a pistol.

 

[Tom Servo]

Since the original poster hasn't provided a source or context, we don't really have a topic to discuss.