The Truth about “Assault Weapons”

The Truth about “Assault Weapons”

There has been much talk lately about “Re-instating the assault weapons ban” and “taking AK-47s out of the public sector”.  There has apparently been some major confusion on the part of many people as to what this means, and what the ban really is.

First of all, you must understand that there is no such thing as an “assault weapon”.  That name is a purely political term.  There are three basic classes of firearms:  Single shot, semi-automatic, and fully automatic.  

A typical single shot firearms can be represented in several  ways. 

First by a “break open” style shotgun or rifle.  These models have no internal magazine and can only hold the one round that is chambered.  These types of firearms are a design holdover from early 1800’s [1] and are still commonly used in bird hunting today. 

Single shot firearms can also be represented by lever action or pump action rifles and shotguns – the type often portrayed in Wild West films. These types of firearms may have an internal magazine that can hold several rounds, but fire only once before requiring the shooter to manually chamber and cock the weapon.  These are also design holdover from early 1800’s [1] and are still commonly used today. 

And lastly, they can be represented by bolt action rifles which firearms may have an internal magazine that can hold several rounds, but fire only once before requiring the shooter to manually chamber and cock the weapon.

 To put it more simply, you pull the trigger once, it goes bang once.

·         A semiautomatic firearm is a model that uses the action from the firing of one round to help the shooter by chambering  and cocking  the next round. 

A typical semiautomatic firearm can be represented by a “double action” revolver, similar to or eveolved from the S&W designs in the 1850’s.   

Likewise, a  semiautomatic firearm can be represented by a modern “semi” handgun, such as the popular Glock – commonly used for home defense, concealed carry, and police issue sidearms. 

And finally, (and most significantly) a  semiautomatic firearm can be represented by a plethora of typical moderns hunting or sport guns, such as the M14 ranch rifle, Benelli Nova duck hunters shotgun, or the popular and customizable AR platform sport rifle.   

The significant factor here for anti-gun politicians is that these modern firearms are typically capable of adding on various conveniences, like flashlights, adjustable shoulder stocks, front grips, or other accessories in a method similar to mounting a scope.  This apparently makes the gun lobbyists nervous.

Despite the fact that the firearm now as a “scary flashlight” attached to it,  you pull the trigger once, it still just goes bang once.

·         A fully automatic weapon is one that uses the action from the firing of one round to both re-chamber and cock the weapon AND fire the next round automatically.  These are known as Machine guns and Submachine guns.

Fully automatic weapons are typically used by the military for fire suppression and rapidly firing at targets from a (typically) close range.

To put it more simply, you pull the trigger once, it goes bang MANY times.

The term “Assault weapon” is specifically intended to conjure images of a shooter aggressively engaging targets with the capacity and speed of a fully automatic weapon (ie: in a military style assault).  In politics however, this term is used to describe modern semi-automatic sporting weapons, despite the fact that semi-automatic weapons would be ineffective at assault style fire suppression or at rapidly firing at multiple targets from close range.

The term was used by the anti-gun lobby and aimed at semiautomatic firearms that looked like fully automatic firearms.  If a semiautomatic firearm had any conventions or features that made it’s use more convenient to the gun owner, such as an adjustable length stock for taller shooters, or more comfortable pistol grip, or a replicable magazine, it was labeled  an “Assault weapon” and demonized.

The purpose in using this terminology is to shift the discussion of gun control from a logical debate to an emotionally charged rhetoric.  In this way, they could confuse and panic more people into agreeing to further limit an individual’s gun rights.

Regardless of what side of the gun-control argument you are on, do not let yourself be fooled  into mis-characterization of the facts or irrational thinking.  We chastise those who would judge a person by their skin as illogical, irrational and biased.  Doing the same with a firearm to create confusion and  fear just because of the way it looks is just as illogical, irrational and biased.  Should we outlaw a toy NERF gun because it LOOKS like a military weapon?  No.  Why?  Because it does not function like a military weapon.  A so called “Assault weapon” is no more dangerous than any other modern hunting rifle.  It functions the same way, has the same rate of fire, and even uses the same common ammunition.  

Who cares what the gun looks like?  Paint it pink, put glitter on it.  As long as you pull the trigger once and it only goes bang once, it is not a "military style assault weapon".

There is no such thing as an “Assault Weapon”.  Don’t fall for the rhetoric.  Don’t perpetuate the lie.

PS - I'll put a hello Kitty stock on my rifle, just to make the anti-gun politicians nervous!