Way back when the ownership of firearms was less controversial than it is today, the term assault rifle did not exist. It wasn’t until the government in certain states implemented gun laws against “assault rifles” that it became a thing. At first the gun crowd said, “whatever, that’s not a thing so ban it,” but then they gave a definition to it and made it a thing. According to Webster’s dictionary, the definition became, “ any of various intermediate-range, magazine-fed military rifles (such as the AK-47) that can be set for automatic or semiautomatic fire. Also : a rifle that resembles a military assault rifle but is designed to allow only semi-automatic fire.” I’m surprised that they didn’t mention the AR-15. There’s a few issues with this definition. The trouble with this definition is that a “military grade firearm means something else to different people. As far as gun owners go, we would say that a civilian legal firearm is not a military grade weapon specifically because you can’t own fully automatic weapons anymore. Which brings up the second point, that all rifles these days are single fire semi auto. So technically speaking, there is no “assault rifle” on the market.
Now if we look at the government definition of an “assault rifle” we are told that it can’t have what they call the “Evil Features”: A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon. A thumbhole stock. A folding or telescoping stock. A grenade launcher or flare launcher. A flash suppressor. A forward pistol grip. These make a little more sense when discussing the legitimacy of the term “Assault” for a few reasons. When we look at types of rifles, assault isn’t in the list of types of firearms you can buy. It’s not even a sub category. An AR-15 is considered a compact semi-automatic rifle. Semi-automatic just means that the gun puts the next bullet in the chamber for you after you fire the first shot. This is pretty common in most firearms these days. Other rifles include bolt action, lever action, and pump action. The latter being most commonly found on shotguns. In fact, shotguns can just as easily succumb to these “evil features” as well. An AK-47 on the other hand isn’t even legal to manufacture in the United States specifically because it is fully-automatic. This fear that Americans can get their hands on machine guns in the legal gun market is a false one for the most part. Gun manufacturers cannot make them, but it is possible to occasionally find an old one for sale. The legality of that would depend on your state laws though. So where the term “assault” can come into play is how the firearm is set up.
What is the firearm’s purpose? If you are hunting, you would set up the rifle for long range effective shooting. If it is for home defense, you would want close range sites with things like a flashlight and a simple sight like a red dot that doesn't need to see far and would be effective in the walls of your home. In a Military battle scenario, you would set up your rifle for combat, giving it attachments that will make you the most effective soldier. If you are a soldier on the front lines, going through doors and taking out the enemy, this is when using the term, “assault rifle” would be acceptable. It’s more about how it’s used and not what type of firearm it is. This is the biggest misconception around the terms. Unless you’re a police officer part of a SWAT unit, a civilian isn’t going to have a need to have a rifle set up this way. So really these “evil feature” rules are just to make things more difficult for law abiding gun owners.
What’s funny is that there’s always been workarounds. Things like the pistol grip used to be allowed in places like California if you had a bullet button or a fixed magazine. That’s now gone too, but there are companies that make stocks to shape the rifle more like a common hunting rifle, making everything else about the gun legal again. It’s nothing more than moronic bureaucracy to make it seem like the government is doing something about gun violence. Really if we want to end gun violence, we need to start teaching gun safety in schools again to create a respect for firearms, and encourage more citizens to get their concealed carry permit. To quote Robert A. Heinlein, “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”
It’s unfortunate that the initials for the AR-15 company are AR because people now naturally assume that AR stands for Assault Rifle. It actually stands for ArmaLite which is the brand name. The “evil AR” rifles is that they’re not even the only company that makes these types of rifles. They just happen to be the most common. What’s humorous about this whole thing is that there are wooden rifles that can shoot the exact same caliber bullet as the AR15 at the same rate of fire, but because it’s not a “scary black gun,” people are more ok with it. It’s all emotion.
The other big misconception is that there is some kind of "Gun Show loop hole." The idea is that you can go into a gun show and buy whatever you want. Even Obama said this when he was president. Factually speaking, no one can do this. Gun shows abide by the same gun buying laws as your local gun store. You still need an ID and a background check. If you reside in a State with a DROS waiting period, the firearm must be shipped to your local dealer to be picked up at the designated date. There is no loophole.
Steven Crowder has a few great videos on the misconceptions of firearms:
Sources:
- https://www.gunmade.com/definition-assault-rifle/
- https://www.gunmade.com/definition-assault-rifle/
- https://www.police1.com/special-coverage-shot-show-2017/articles/what-cops-need-toknow-about-californias-new-rules-on-ar-15s-MAOHZUOJzSL1AIY7/
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