What are “Assault Weapons”?

Recently, anti-gun activists and political leaders like President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris have been using the terms, “assault weapon” and “assault rifle” when speaking on restricting the right to self-defense. However, what really are “assault weapons” and “assault rifles” and how do we define them?

Nazi Propaganda and a Made-up Term

As it turns out, the term “assault rifle” actually originated in Nazi Germany, and Hitler hated this weapon… at first. The original name for the weapon was Sturmgewehr 44 or StG-44. It could be fired in both semi-automatic and full-auto and had a 30-round detachable box magazine. The firearm used an intermediate round larger than a pistol cartridge but shorter than the standard rifle cartridge the German army was using.

In 1942 the German army started using the Hugo Schmeisser-designed Maschinenkarabiner 1942 or MKb42 (H) manufactured by Haenel. Hitler, however, did not like this weapon for a few complex reasons and ordered production to be stopped. In a rare sequence of events, the generals of the army went behind Hitler’s back renaming the MKb42 (H) the Maschinenpistole 43 or MP-43. They claimed it was the upgrade of a submachine gun. However, it was not a submachine gun and Hitler eventually found out. After a brief halt in production, he discovered his troops on the Eastern Front wanted more of these rifles. Hitler eventually fired the weapon and was so impressed that he renamed it “Sturmgewehr” – meaning “storm rifle” as in “taking the objective by storm.” The reason for the name was strictly to propagandize it to sound scarier than simply saying “rifle.” The more common synonym in English is “assault.” In short, the term “assault rifle” is literally Nazi propaganda to make their firearms sound scary.

“Assault rifle” today is a military term referring to a medium-caliber, shoulder-fired rifle that allows the shooter to select between semiautomatic mode (the gun fires one bullet per pull of the trigger) and either fully automatic mode (the gun continues to fire bullet after bullet as long as the trigger is depressed) or three-shot-burst mode (the gun fires three bullets per pull of the trigger).

Today’s semiautomatic civilian firearm is often referred to by the media, politicians, and gun control activists as “assault weapons” simply because they have the appearance of a fully automatic military firearm, but actually dearth the function of such weapon. Due to their appearance, they are also commonly referred to as “military-style assault weapons.”

The term “assault weapon” came to America in the late 1980s, though it is not clear if it was as a political ploy by gun control advocates or as a marketing ploy by gun retailers. What is clear is that “assault weapon” is neither a technical term, a term of art used by firearm manufactures, or a military term. Defining “assault weapons” is not easy, as it is easier to say what they are not. As defined by federal law, “assault weapons” are semiautomatic only and cannot fire in fully automatic mode nor in three-shot-burst mode. In other words, “assault weapons” are NOT “assault rifles.”

What about the AR-15?

One specific rifle anti-gun activists like to go after is the AR-15. This has to do with a few possible reasons. For one, many anti-gun activists tend to speak from a place of ignorance, therefore some may think the “AR” in “AR-15” stands for “Assault Rifle.” This, however, is not true. In reality, the “AR” actually stands for the name of the company, ArmaLite Rifle. On top of this, there are a few other key facts that they seem to miss when talking about this specific rifle.

For one, they conflate it to be this “military weapon” that civilians don’t need. However, in truth, if our military had AR-15s they would be screwed. AR-15s are NOT an “assault rifle” or an “automatic rifle.” They might look like a military rifle like the M-16 but by law they function like any other semiautomatic civilian sporting firearm, firing only one round with each pull of the trigger.

Furthermore, AR-15s are among the most popular firearms being sold today. According to Business Insider, America has 20 million AR-15 style rifles in circulation. A lot of the media likes to talk about how frequently the AR-15 is used in mass shootings. However, it’s just like the media to ignore basic facts to fit a political agenda to get people emotional about things like gun laws without letting the average citizen truly know everything they need to know.

The reality is AR-15s are not as frequently used in mass shootings as the media wants people to believe. News Week pointed out in a 2021 article that AR-15s were used in 26 percent of the previous 80 mass shootings. Cool. So, what about the other 74 percent? The reality is handguns are more commonly used in mass shootings. So, why aren’t anti-gun advocates going after handguns? Well, because they already did… and they failed. As co-host of BASED Politics Hannah Cox explains, “People who were anti-gun in the 80s in America realized they were losing the battle. They were trying to go after handguns, which is what most people carry… and they were losing that battle. So, we actually have statements from them saying, ‘The movement needs to instead start focusing on “assault weapons” because the public doesn’t know the difference and it sounds scary to them.’ So, they started trying to label things like AR-15s as ‘assault weapons.’”   

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban

In 1994, the U.S. did have a Federal Assault Weapons Ban that lasted ten years, expiring in 2004. The criteria for the banning of the weapon as an “assault weapon” was the firearm had to be a semiautomatic that could accept a detachable magazine and had at least two military-style features such as a folding or telescoping stock, a pistol grip, a bayonet mount, a flash suppressor, or a threaded barrel designed to accept a flash suppressor. In other words, if it looks scary enough, it’s an “assault weapon.” This affected mostly rifles, but there were also separate criteria that enabled certain pistols and shotguns to be classified as “assault weapons.”    

Many media outlets that tend to lean more left try to say that since the ban ended gun violence has increased, but they also tend to ignore gun violence statistics from before the ban, because this would actually damage their narrative. When looking at gun violence, it was increasing during the ban as well, and multiple studies show it did nothing at best, alluding to the reality that this isn’t a gun issue, this is a culture issue.

Conclusion

It should be understood that “assault weapon” literally means nothing and “assault rifle” was Nazi propaganda to make their firearm sound more powerful and scary and cannot be bought by the public. If anyone uses these terms, understand that they are either completely ignorant on the topic of firearms or they are intentionally trying to mislead people by using language that sounds scary in order to drive home a political agenda that would restrict law abiding citizen’s rights to self-defense through the use of big government to force those citizens to be more reliant on big government for protection. However, when seconds matter, police will get to you in minutes, and even then, they might not do anything.