As the debate over firearm ownership in the United States continues to grow following the deadly Boulder, Colorado, Atlanta-area, and Virginia Beach shootings, the term “assault weapon” is once again being used in political discourse to describe many firearms.
The term “assault weapon” or “assault rifle” has been predominantly wielded by those seeking more stringent firearm laws in the U.S. and refers to a class of firearms that possesses certain characteristic features. The components in question make a gun look military-style and have little effect on the overall mechanics of the firearm itself.
On March 11, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a leading voice in the gun control movement, introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021, which defined a “semiautomatic assault weapon” as a firearm that “has the capacity to utilize a [detachable] magazine” and has “any 1 of the following: a pistol grip, a forward grip, a folding, telescoping, or detachable stock, a grenade launcher, a barrel shroud” or “a threaded barrel.”
LINDSEY GRAHAM: MAJORITY OF SENATE WOULD ‘REJECT’ BIDEN ‘ASSAULT WEAPONS’ BAN
Feinstein’s definition, which has been largely adopted by states such as New York, California, Maryland, and Connecticut to craft statewide bans on the firearms, extends to pistols and semi-automatic shotguns, not just rifles. The top Democrat included a list of firearms that would meet “assault weapon” qualifications, including AK-type firearms, the AR–15, the FN SCAR, the Galil ACE rifle, and the Steyr AUG, among hundreds of others.
If Feinstein’s bill were to pass, it would outlaw guns such as the Smith & Wesson M&P15, an AR-15 rifle that was among the bestselling firearms of 2020.
Pro-Second Amendment groups revile the term “assault weapon.” The National Shooting Sports Foundation opts to use the phrase “modern sporting rifle” to refer to the commonly owned semi-automatic firearms, as the group claims the guns are misunderstood.
“The central reason these firearms are misunderstood is political,” its website reads. “Though the semiautomatic design used in today’s pistols, rifles and shotguns was invented in the late-nineteenth century and was popularly sold to consumers in America and Europe in the early twentieth century, the modern sporting rifle has been called a ‘weapon of war’ by those who want to ban them.”
The NSSF claims that “AR-15-style rifles are NOT ‘assault weapons’ or ‘assault rifles.’ An assault rifle is fully automatic, a machine gun. Automatic firearms have been severely restricted from civilian ownership since 1934.”
The group added that weapons that fall under these supposed classifications “are among the most popular firearms being sold today,” and though they “can look like military rifles,” the guns “function like other semiautomatic civilian sporting firearms, as they fire only one round with each pull of the trigger.”
The Gun Owners of America, one of the largest pro-Second Amendment groups in the country, agreed with the NSSF’s assessment, calling “assault weapon” a “made-up” term.
“Radical anti-gunners have no problem twisting words to suit their agenda. This is no more apparent than when they made up the term ‘assault weapon’ decades ago — a term which has no true definition,” GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt told the Washington Examiner. “Millions of honest Americans own AR-15s for self- and home defense, making this rifle a very commonly owned firearm. It can be said that the AR-15 is truly America’s rifle.”
In November 2020, the NSSF estimated that 20 million modern sporting rifles were in circulation throughout the country, many of which were produced by U.S. manufacturers.
While on the campaign trail, President Joe Biden vowed to ban “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines, a reference to ammunition-feeding devices capable of holding more than 10 cartridges. The then-candidate expressed an interest in bolstering red flag laws, which allow local law enforcement to seize guns from those deemed a threat to themselves or others, and removing liability protections on gun manufacturers, a provision that protects the companies from frivolous lawsuits.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Last week, the White House confirmed Biden will try to use executive orders to push gun control. He provided a hint of what to expect while speaking to reporters on the tarmac en route to his home in Delaware on Friday afternoon and mentioned guns that are “made by 3D equipment.”
“We are looking at that right now,” Biden said when asked about an executive order. “We are looking at what kind of authority I have relative to imported weapons, as well as whether or not I have any authority to … these new weapons that are being made by 3D equipment that aren’t registered as guns at all. There may be some latitude there as well.”
