The Term "Assault Rifle"

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Honey Badger

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Oct 28, 2008
Messages
6,798
Reaction score
2,998
Location
Ponca City
I was reading somewhere else where an individual was offended that ARs were referred to as assault rifles. The same was said of AKs and the like. Personally it doesn't offend me that they are referred to that way. How do you guys feel about it?
 

10Seconds

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Aug 13, 2012
Messages
1,122
Reaction score
0
Location
Tulsa
I would not personally care, Except for the fact that the term is used by politically motivated people to "demonize" them. By trying to make the gun sound "criminal" (as assault is a crime) then they can convince more people that these guns are "bad."

Thats partially why Walmart and other retailers are marketing them as "modern sporting rifles."
 

ignerntbend

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
15,797
Reaction score
3,270
Location
Oklahoma
The final law is usage. I saw a TV program a few years ago where some guy was teaching archery to a bunch of kids.
"We call it a bow, we don't call it a weapon."
Does it stop being a weapon because you stop calling it a weapon? Could be.
Inyhoo, my own advice to people is that you should never open your mouth in public.
It isn't safe.
 

HMFIC

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
May 4, 2009
Messages
11,193
Reaction score
11
Location
Tulsa
The 2nd Amendment doesn't say "y'all can keep your hunting rifles for squirrels 'n sech".
If we need to defend ourselves, we damned sure need ASSAULT WEAPONS.
Fine by me...
 

JB Books

Shooter Emeritus
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
14,111
Reaction score
192
Location
Hansenland
The term originated from the Germans. They loved terms like "shock troops," "storm troops", etc. Some people say that the "first" "assault rifle" was the STG-44. It looks like an HK. I think the first "assault rifle" were the early repeaters (American made!). I seem to recall a TV program in which they said something about an early wagon train that was attacked by a large Indian raiding party. In the wagon train, there were 2-3 repeaters and several men with regular muzzle loaders. They held off the raiding party and killed 200+ attackers.
 

vicious

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
392
Reaction score
4
Location
Duncan
It bothers me to use that to categorize the weapon. It's a semi-auto rifle, leave it at that. If you want to start calling them assault weapons, you can lump so much more into that. Take the baseball bat for example. Many people have been assaulted by them, therefore it is an assault weapon, right?
 

ronny

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Sep 7, 2009
Messages
6,294
Reaction score
1,108
Location
Ardmore
I believe the term "assault rifle" is defined in the U.S., either by law or regulation, as being capable of automatic fire, among other things. Two otherwise identical AK's, one automatic and the other semi-automatic; the first would be an assault rifle and the second would not.
 

TonyRumore

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 31, 2005
Messages
397
Reaction score
48
Location
Inola, OK
I think the term got rolling when lawmakers started writing laws regulating those type of guns. If you have ever authored a major contract, or even read one for that matter, there is a list of "defined terms" spelled out in the language. These defined terms can be defined as anything you want them to be, as long as you use the term consistently throughout the document. Defined terms allow the auther to refer to a short word or words without having the write out a long ass explanation every time it is used. For example in an acquisition contract, you would have the terms "Buyer" and "Seller" defined as American Airlines at 123 Main Street, Dallas, Texas, and Boeing Aircraft Corp in Washington. Then in the main body, you would only see "Buyer" and "Seller" used.

With that said, the lawmaker has to define that type of gun as something....it could be anything, but they chose "Assault Weapon" and spelled it out as a defined term to be used throughout the document. The ATF defines shotguns with barrels under 18" to be "Short Barreled Shotguns", however many States define them as "Sawed Off Shotguns". It doesn't matter either way, since the definition is written out to explain what it means in that particular document.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom