In theUnited States,assault weapon is a controversial term applied to different kinds offirearms.[1] There is no clear, consistent definition. It can includesemi-automatic firearms with a detachablemagazine, apistol grip, and sometimes other features, such as avertical forward grip,flash suppressor, orbarrel shroud.[1][2] Certain firearms are specified by name in some laws that restrict assault weapons.[3] When the now-defunctFederal Assault Weapons Ban was passed in 1994, theU.S. Department of Justice said, "In general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use."[3] The commonly used definitions of assault weapons are under frequent debate, and have changed over time.[1]
The origin of the term has been attributed to legislators, the firearms industry,gun control groups,[4][5][6] and the media.[7] It is sometimes used interchangeably with the termassault rifle,[8] which refers toselective fire rifles that useintermediate cartridges.[6] This use has been described as incorrect and a misapplication of the term.[8][9] After the December 2012Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, many news organizations ran stories about assault weapons, explaining their varying definitions and presenting varying opinions about whether they should be banned again at the federal level.[1][6][10]
Drawing from federal and state law definitions, the term assault weapon refers primarily tosemi-automatic rifles,pistols, andshotguns that are able to accept detachable magazines and possess one or more other features.[2][11][12] Some jurisdictions define revolving-cylinder shotguns as assault weapons.[13][14] Legislative definitions do not include fully automatic weapons, which are regulated separately asTitle II weapons under federal law.[15][n 1] A key defining law was the now-defunctFederal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.[15] At that time, theUnited States Department of Justice said, "In general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use."[3]
Common attributes used in legislative definitions of assault weapons include:
Dictionary definitions vary from legal definitions. Dictionary.com defines "assault weapon" as "any of various automatic and semiautomatic military firearms utilizing anintermediate-power cartridge, designed for individual use".[18] TheMerriam-Webster Online Dictionary's definition is "any of various automatic or semiautomatic firearms; especially: assault rifle".[19]
The origin of the term is not clearly known and is the subject of much debate. In the past, the names of certain military weapons used the phrase, such as theRifleman's Assault Weapon, a grenade launcher developed in 1977 for use with theM16 assault rifle,[20] or theShoulder-launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon, a rocket launcher introduced in 1984.[21]
One of the earliest uses of the term, or a similar term, in its current meaning was as part of an advertisement inThe Hutchinson News (Kansas) in 1978 for theValmets-7.62×39, theColt AR-15, and theWilkinson Terry carbine.[22] Another was in a bill introduced byArt Agnos in theCalifornia State Assembly in April 1985 to ban semi-automatic "assault firearms" capable of using detachable magazines of 20 rounds or more.[23][24] Speaking to the Assembly Public Safety Committee, Agnos said, "The only use for assault weapons is to shoot people."[23] The measure did not pass when it came up for a vote.[24]
In 2013,The Washington Post, looking into the history of the term, wrote of the term: "Many attribute its popularization to a 1988 paper written by gun-control activist and Violence Policy Center founder Josh Sugarmann and the later reaction to theCleveland School massacre in Stockton, California, in January 1989."[6]Sugarmann had written:
Assault weapons—just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms—are a new topic. The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these weapons.[25]
Other researchers have found evidence to suggest that the firearms industry itself may have introduced the term "assault weapon" to build interest in new product lines.[26] Phillip Peterson, the author ofGun Digest Buyer's Guide to Assault Weapons (2008) wrote:
The popularly held idea that the term 'assault weapon' originated with anti-gun activists is wrong. The term was first adopted by manufacturers, wholesalers, importers and dealers in the American firearms industry to stimulate sales of certain firearms that did not have an appearance that was familiar to many firearms owners. The manufacturers and gun writers of the day needed a catchy name to identify this new type of gun.[5]
Meanwhile, many gun rights activists have put forward that the term was popularized by the media or gun control activists. Conservative writerRich Lowry said that assault weapon is a "manufactured term".[27] Joseph P. Tartaro of theSecond Amendment Foundation (SAF) wrote in 1994: "One of the key elements of the anti-gun strategy to gull the public into supporting bans on the so-called 'assault weapons' is to foster confusion. As stated previously, the public does not know the difference between a full automatic and a semi-automatic firearm."[4] Robert Crook, executive director of the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, said "the term 'assault weapon,' as used by the media, is a media invention."[7][28][29]Gun control supporters use the term whilegun rights supporters generally do not use the term.[citation needed]
Seven states have assault weapon bans with different definitions and characteristics.[30]
InIllinois, proposed legislation in 2013 would have defined the term "semi-automatic assault weapon" as any semi-automatic firearm able to accept a detachable magazine, but it was never brought to a vote.[39][40] The Illinois State Rifle Association said most of the state's firearms owners owned one or more guns that would have been banned under the proposal.[41] The NRA said the proposal would have restricted about 75 percent of handguns and 50 percent of long guns in circulation.[41] As municipalities,Chicago andCook County bans certain firearms defined as assault weapons and have no provision for legal possession of firearms owned before their laws were passed.[42][43]Minnesota also defines certain firearms as assault weapons and regulates their sales.[33] TheState of Washington defines any semi-automatic rifle (except antiques), regardless of features, caliber, or magazine type, as a "semiautomatic assault rifle".[44]
The term "assault rifle" is frequently used interchangeably with the term "assault weapon" but this use has been described as incorrect and a misapplication of the term.[8] The AP Stylebook suggests that newsrooms avoid the terms "assault weapon" and "assault rifle" instead using the term "semi-automatic rifle".[45] Part of the definition of "assault rifle", according to theEncyclopædia Britannica, is that it is selective-fire, which means that it is capable of both semiautomatic and fully automatic fire.[46] Civilian ownership ofmachine guns, including selective-fire rifles, has been tightly regulated since 1934 under theNational Firearms Act and since 1986 under theFirearm Owners Protection Act.[12]
Gun control advocates and gun rights advocates have referred to at least some of the features outlined in assault weapons bans as "cosmetic". TheNRA Institute for Legislative Action and theViolence Policy Center both used the term in 2004 when the federal ban expired.[47][48] In May 2012, theLaw Center to Prevent Gun Violence said, "the inclusion in the list of features that were purely cosmetic in nature created a loophole that allowed manufacturers to successfully circumvent the law by making minor modifications to the weapons they already produced."[49] Some reporters used the term in stories after the 2012 shootings inAurora, Colorado, andNewtown, Connecticut.[50][51]
Assault weapons, also sometimes called "black guns" or "black rifles",[52] are no more powerful than many other semi-automatic rifles legally used for hunting throughout the United States; they do not shoot faster or have greater range.[53]
Two scholars have written: "One problem inherent in the study of [assault weapons (AW)] is that the classifications of AW are based on cosmetic features of firearms... For instance, the Colt AR-15 series of semi-automatic rifles—the civilian version of the fully automatic M-16 rifle issued to U.S. soldiers—was subject to the 1994 AW restrictions, but theRuger Mini-14 rifle was not banned. Yet, the Mini-14 is the same caliber, has a similar barrel length, the same semi-automatic action, and can use magazines that hold 30 rounds of ammunition. The only real meaningful difference between the two firearms is cosmetic: The AR-15 rifle looks more dangerous."[54]
TheNational Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industrytrade group, states that the termassault weapon has been misapplied to many semi-automatic firearms because of their appearance and not their use in crime.[55]
As of 2021, there are an estimated 16–44 million rifles from just the AR-15 family of rifles in civilian use in the United States.[56][57]
The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994, more commonly known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, expired in 2004. It banned the manufacture or importation of certain semi-automatic firearms that it defined as "semiautomatic assault weapons", commonly known as assault weapons. Any firearms so defined that were already possessed at the time the law took effect were grandfathered in, and could be legally owned or transferred. Another aspect of the law banned the manufacture or importation of magazines that could hold more than ten rounds of ammunition, with existing magazines grandfathered in as legal.[15]
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 defined certain firearms as assault weapons based on the features they possessed. This included semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine and at least two of these features: a pistol grip, a folding or telescoping stock, a flash suppressor or threaded barrel, a bayonet mount, or a muzzle-mounted grenade launcher. It included semi-automatic pistols with a detachable magazine and at least two of these features: a magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip, a threaded barrel, abarrel shroud, or an unloaded weight of 50 ounces or more. Additionally defined as assault weapons were semi-automatic shotguns with a rotating cylinder, or with at least two of these features: a pistol grip, a folding or telescoping stock, a detachable magazine, or a fixed magazine that can hold more than five rounds.[12][15]
The ban also prohibited 19 specifically named models of firearms, as well as copies of those guns. These included the AK-47,Uzi,Galil, AR-15,FN FAL,MAC-10,Steyr AUG,TEC-9, andArmsel Striker.[12][15]
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On December 16, 2012, two days after theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting, SenatorDianne Feinstein said she would introduce a new assault weapons ban on the first day of Congress.[58] Five days later, on December 21,Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the National Rifle Association, held a news conference repeating the NRA's opposition to additional gun laws.[59][60] Feinstein and SenatorRichard Blumenthal held a separate news conference in response.[61] There, Feinstein said that it seemed to her "prudent" to register grandfathered assault weapons under the National Firearms Act (NFA).[62] A two-page bill summary on the senator's web site also mentioned registering grandfathered assault weapons under the NFA,[63] but the text of the bill introduced to the Senate did not include that provision.
On January 24, 2013, Feinstein introduced S. 150, the "Assault Weapons Ban of 2013".[64] The bill was similar to the 1994 ban, but differed in that it used a one-feature test for a firearm to qualify as an assault weapon rather than the two-feature test of the 1994 ban. On April 17, 2013, it failed on a Senate vote of 60 to 40.[65]
The term 'assault weapon,' as used by the media, is a media invention. These are semi-automatic firearms that have military cosmetic characteristics. They look like our military firearms, but they're not.
Assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms designed with military features to allow rapid and accurate spray firing.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)In fact, the term was introduced by the gun industry itself to boost interest in new lines of firearms.
New York is one of only seven states that have assault-weapons bans in place, according to the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence.
There are three categories of assault weapons under California law. The first category is firearms listed on the originalRoberti-Roos assault weapons list (Penal Code section 12276, subds (a), (b), and (c)). The second category of assault weapons is AK and AR-15 series weapons, pdf (Penal Code sections 12276 (e) and (f)). The third category of assault weapons is defined by specific generic characteristics (PC section 12276.1, SB 23).
State Rep. Brandon Phelps, a Harrisburg Democrat, called the bill "too broad" as it applied to too many different types of guns, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Law-abiding citizens, however, will once again be free to purchase semi-automatic firearms, regardless of their cosmetic features, for target shooting, shooting competitions, hunting, collecting, and most importantly, self-defense.
Soon after its passage in 1994, the gun industry made a mockery of the federal assault weapons ban, manufacturing 'post-ban' assault weapons with only slight, cosmetic differences from their banned counterparts.
[The National Rifle Association] says the ban created an artificial distinction between 'assault weapons' and other semi-automatic weapons, based almost entirely on cosmetic features. This is largely true.
... 'assault weapon' is a largely cosmetic rather than functional description.
None of the guns that the Newtown murderer used was an assault weapon under Connecticut law. This illustrates the uselessness of bans on so-called assault weapons, since those bans concentrate on guns' cosmetics, such as whether the gun has a bayonet lug, rather than their function.
Gun companies quickly realized they could stay within the law and continue to make rifles with high-capacity magazine clips if they steered away from the cosmetic features mentioned in the law.
The distinguishing characteristics of 'assault weapons' are mainly cosmetic and have little or no functional significance in the context of mass shootings or ordinary gun crimes.
People seeking to stock up on the types of weapons that would likely be targeted by any ban—semiautomatic weapons, sometimes known as 'black guns' or 'black rifles'—have flocked to purchase them.
But these guns are no more powerful than many semiautomatic rifles legally used for hunting in California and throughout the United States. They don't shoot farther, faster or with more power. In order to create an 'assault weapon' ban, legislators had to list specific models of guns or characteristics such as pistol grips on rifles, flash hiders, folding rifle stocks and threaded barrels for attaching silencers.
Quotations related toAssault weapon at Wikiquote