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So What Is an ‘Assault Rifle’ Really? We Look at the Definitions and How the Term Is ‘Demonized’

Jan. 11, 2013 10:22am Liz Klimas

“Make a promise to yourself that you will stop calling rifles ‘assault weapons.’”

That’s what Glenn Beck said on his morning radio show Thursday as he discussed AR-15s. But why? Is an AR-15 not an assault rifle? Does the “AR” in AR-15 not stand for “assault rifle”?

Gun Experts Decry Use of the Term Assault to Describe Civilian Firearms

A man with an AR-15, which is a semi-automatic rifle allowed for civilian ownership. (Photo: Shutterstock.com)

It doesn’t. In fact, it doesn’t mean “automatic rifle” either, as many might think. AR actually stands for ArmaLite rifle, which is the company that first developed it in the 1950s.

It seems that there is a lot of confusion as to the difference between military rifles and those designed for civilian ownership, especially because of the language often used to describe the latter. The most popular terms to describe the weapons at the center of the recent gun control debate are “military-style” and “assault.” These words have long been used to to describe civilian firearms like the AR-15, but some consider it an inappropriate association that is deliberately being made to “demonize” the guns.

As Beck radio producer Stu Burguiere put it on the show Thursday, “they are targeting these weapons because they think the public is confused enough that they can get away with it — and they are.”

With what seems to be little understanding or agreement on the definition of what constitutes an assault rifle and the difference between civilian and military arms, TheBlaze went searching.

Military vs. Civilian Rifles — What’s the Difference?

For the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on AR-15s since it is what CBS calls “the most popular rifle in America” and one often designated an “assault” rifle. An AR-15 is the civilian equivalent to the military’s M-16. So what’s the difference?

Kelly Alwood, a firearms trainer and consultant, told TheBlaze the only difference is that one is fully automatic and the other is semi-automatic. It’s a small yet simultaneously big distinction. Firearms for use by the military are able to shoot continuously with one pull of the trigger, machine-gun style. Civilian firearms, on the other hand, only allow one shot per trigger pull.

M-16, a military automatic rifle. (Photo: Wikimedia)

Chris Parrett, a firearms enthusiast, pointed out that modifying a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic one is not only highly illegal with extreme penalties but also no easy feat.

What Constitutes an ‘Assault’ Rifle?

Merriam-Webster Dictonary defines “assault rifle” as “any of various automatic or semiautomatic rifles with large capacity magazines designed for military use.” The keywords here are “designed for military use.”

If that definition doesn’t quite cut it for you, here’s how David Kopel (via the Washington Examiner) describes it in an article in the “Journal of Contemporary Law” based on a definition from the Department of Defense (emphasis added):

As the United States Defense Department’s Defense Intelligence Agency book Small Arms Identification and Operation Guide explains, “assault rifles” are “short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges.”[21] In other words, assault rifles are battlefield rifles which can fire automatically.[22]

Weapons capable of fully automatic fire, including assault rifles, have been regulated heavily in the United States since the National Firearms Act of 1934.[23] Taking possession of such weapons requires paying a $200 federal transfer tax and submitting to an FBI background check, including ten-print fingerprints.[24]

Many civilians have purchased semiautomatic-only rifles that look like military assault rifles. These civilian rifles are, unlike actual assault rifles, incapable of automatic fire.

Based on these two definitions, since AR-15 is designed for civilian use, it therefore doesn’t fit with the definition of an “assault” weapon. This then begs the question why the association is being made in the first place.

“It was the Left who needed a term to call them,” Beck said on radio Thursday. “They are trying to make you think …’an AR-15, nobody needs that.’ An AR-15 is just a rifle, unless it has a fully automatic switch on it and then it becomes a machine gun — and you can’t buy that.”

(Editor’s note: machine guns, or automatic weapons, are reserved for the military but they can be purchased for a relatively high cost after a very lengthy background check and licensing procedure. See David Kopel’s definition we included above.)

“It’s a way to demonize something for a political agenda and misconstrue [the guns] and the public on the Second Amendment,” Alwood said.

Alwood, who the day he spoke with TheBlaze was traveling around helping police departments with their rifles, pointed out that all arguments for further gun control regulations or bans seem to go back the question “what would you possibly need this for?” Or rather, why would someone need the civilian equivalent to a military firearm?

Alwood said many gun control advocates would tie this question to hunting. In other words, why would a hunter need such a firearm? As the governor of New York Andrew Coumo said his State of the State address this week, “no one hunts with an assault rifle.” To which Alwood would respond, 1) there are practical applications in hunting with a so-called assault rifle and, 2) “the Second Amendment wasn’t designed for hunting,” an association which he thinks started being made in the 1980s.

“We need these rifles because the government has them,” Alwood explained.

He stopped there to say he realizes this is where gun enthusiasts and riflemen are made out to seem like anti-government “whack jobs” by the media, but that’s just not true.

“I don’t want people to think of me as anti-government. Most gun owners are not anti-government,” Alwood said.

He added that the Founding Fathers drafted the Second Amendment with protection of the citizens and their freedoms in mind.

“[Without the Second Amendment] there is no way to resist the government, voiding all other amendments,” Alwood said. “Why should [the government] continue to give you your freedom of speech if there is no one to stop them. It’s the only safeguard we have to protect us from a tyrannical government. …Look at all countries in trouble with dictators, they have absolute gun bans.”

The conservative publication Townhall recently called out two countries with a similar sentiment to this in mind:

Neither the Venezuelan nor Chinese governments have particularly good track records when it comes to human rights. By maintaining a government monopoly on guns, both can ensure that further abuses are carried out with less protests from the citizenry. Overall, it is sad to see two dictatorial governments making it easier to abuse their citizens as they please while also squelching the possibility for resistance.

Watch the segment on Thursday’s radio show where Beck takes on the use of the term “assault”:

Editor’s note — The author of this post discussed this story during our live BlazeCast on Friday afternoon:

This story has corrected the spelling of Kelly Alwood’s last name.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (314)

Glock29
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:16pm
And how many of these new proposed laws would have stopped the tragic Sandy Hook massacre?
http://www.nraila.org/legislation/federal-legislation/2012/feinstein-goes-for-broke-with-new-gun-ban-bill.aspx

None!

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bankerpapaw
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:12pm
If someone is absolutely determined to kill someone, they will use whatever weapon they can get their
hands on, whether it be a rifle, knife, rock or sharpened stick.

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George Patton
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:08pm
This must be our cry…..forward this quote to everyone you know:

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!”
~Samuel Adams

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lvjohn
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:06pm
If you have a mouth like joe biden that spews garbage without stopping thats considered an assault weapon.

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RaydocX
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:55am
my only argument here is the suggestion that the rifle cannot be easily converted.
my understanding is that is NOT the case, and while that may enflame the Left, honest discourse is our best friend.

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Guitar Master
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:54am
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
From THE REPORTER
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Think about this: Debating with the Communists (left) is like the wife who heard her husband was with another women. He says “no, no, no, not me, it was someone else, not me, I wouldn’t do that!” The wife knows he’s lying and keeps asking him. He keeps denying. Pretty soon the wife doesn’t know what to believe and ends up believing her husband . . . who has been lying.

The Communists that would deny America of her 2nd Amendment rights are doing the very same thing. They use propaganda to confuse and twist the facts and control the debate and lie to further their cause. If you are weak minded pretty soon you begin believing their tripe.

This very same thing happened with the health care debate – will this happen again?. . . . looks like it !

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JollyRoger713
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:53am
So the AR15, as we know, is a civilian rifle. But now there are calls to remove them from civilian hands because they are military-style weapons.
Here’s a simple question. Does anyone in the military even use an AR15? I’m assuming the answer is NO in 99.9999999% of the situations. So if its not used by the military, then its obviously not a military grade weapon….the most obvious reason being that the AR15 is a semi-automatic which is the primary criteria for a weapon being civilian grade.
So as Bugs Bunny would say, “What’s all the hub-bub, Bub?”

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Mapache
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:52am
My definition of an Assault Rifle is any rifle aimed and fired at me.

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Mitch Louderback
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:51am
I started a Second Amendment petition at http://wh.gov/PUf7. Please sign my petition to keep President Obama from using an Executive Order to infringe on our Second Amendment rights. It now has over 6,300 signatures in under 48 hours, and needs a total of 25,000 to get an official response from the White House. At the rate we are going this will happen soon. Please post the petition link on your Facebook pages and twitter accounts to get more signatures. I have also asked fox news, drudge report, WND, infowars, town hall, the blaze, the daily caller, cns news, red state, and the NRA to post links. The petition link is listed again below. http://wh.gov/PUf7Thank you,Mitch LouderbackSent via the Samsung Galaxy S™ II Skyrocket™, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone.

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Tom K
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:44am
An Urban OR Foreign Terrorist kicks in my front door while I am home. Turns out, he and I have exactly the same weapon and ammunition. The Terrorist has an ASSAULT Weapon and I have a DEFENSIVE Weapon. Obama is an assault weapon / Joe Biden is a ” Lite ” assault weapon. Any Questions ?

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yamajj
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:39am
for those who use an ar15 for home defense, might i suggest a saiga12. if you don’t know about this semi-auto 12 gauge shotgun, do a search on it. this is my home defense even though i have several handguns and an ar.

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Xiccarph
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:38am
“Assault weapon” was a political activist term that as far as I have found so far, was first coined by Josh Sugarmann in a study “Assault Weapons and Accessories in America” (1988). Sugarmann was with the anti-gun group, the Violence Policy Center. The purpose was probably to maintain the confusion with the real military term “assault rifle”, originally adopted from the German StG44 Sturmgewehr (lit. “storm rifle”) of WW II, by making them appear equivalent in “evilness” and menacing looks…and thus by implication “equally as dangerous”.
It’s a pity that were it not for the nanny state knee-jerk reaction Prohibition era, we probably would still be able to buy select-fire weapons, have short-barreled rifles and shotguns, silencers, quad 50′s, bazookas and have a grenade or two laying around without the NFA ’34 “tax” nonsense. Note that the NFA used a tax stamp to regulate covered items…the politicians KNEW to ban them outright would be unconstitutional, so they came up with the NFA tax method. These agendist politicians KNOW we can have all of these types of weapons, but they will try anything to convince sheep that there is no “need” to own these. Also, any armament that an infantry soldier would use in battle was and still is legal to have, its just now regulated first by the NFA, and then specifically by each state…some states let you have any NFA weapon or device you want, other states don’t allow anything, and everything else in between will de

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GuruMeditation
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:33am
A simple semi-automatic. Again… small arms.

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pahrumper
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:31am
The Muslim camel humper has an agenda to accomplish and to do that he must have all guns removed from our hands. Obummer will do what ever he can with tha help of loons and socialists in the house to make it happen

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TSUNAMI_22
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:26am
I call mine an AT rifle: Anti -Tyranny.

I just ‘coined’ the phrase. Maybe the narrative will change now.

Refer to them as AT rifles from now on. That means you, Glenn Beck.

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Galt45
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:21am
Very good explanation of the differences between real assault rifles and rifles. Too bad the mainstream media can’t be bothered to inform the public as you have.

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Boardopopie
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:18am
.17 HMR smaller and faster than the 5.56. These have “assaulted” lots of prairie and groundhogs.

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Dismayed Veteran
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:17am
I have come around to believe that gun owners should find a Marine to train them. A Marine is first, last and always a rifleman. It doesn’t matter what MOS a Marine has, he/she is fully prepared to be a weapon toting grunt. I love the USMC Rifleman’s Creed shown below.

THIS IS MY RIFLE. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My rifle, without me is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than any enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will….

My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit…

My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will…

Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but Peace.

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- All Pro
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 7:13pm
  “The deadliest weapon in the world is a MARINE and his rifle!”
  GEN PERSHING, USA
  SEMPER-FI
  HOO-RAH
  
  Report this comment
huntinwabbits
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:16am
I don’t think the Second Amendment grants us anything. When I read it, I see it acknowledges a pre-existing right that we have to keep, posses and carry arms. The amendment as I read it is not to give us rights to bear arms, but it’s to inform the government they have no authority over the people’s innate right to keep and bear arms. We are so busy ‘battling’ over the right to have semi-automatic weapons and high cap magazines when we should be fighting the very thought that our own government is already telling us what we can own. The problem started long ago when ‘we the people’ gave in the first time and allowed those in charge to go against the 2A in the first place. The issue of military vs civilian weapons should be completely irrelevant. Give an inch they take a mile. We gave an inch and told them they can tell us we can’t own the same weapons our military does. And now they are trying to take a mile and take away the piece of the pie we have left. I don’t believe freedom is taken away. I believe it is given away. Now we are left to argue definitions because we have already given up too much and are surprised that the govt wants the rest.

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Teufel Hunden
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:16am
The AR15 is no different in function than the Browning BAR sporting rifle, the Remington 742, the Ruger 10/22, the Winchester 100 and the list goes on. Comparing an AR15 to any of these weapons would be like comparing Rosie O’Donnell to Megan Kelly. They both function exactly the same, only one looks more menacing.

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Contract_Pilot
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:15am
Even if they did make a law and try and take away all firearms they cannot take away tools and knowledge. Check out my you tube video on how to build an AK-47 receiver http://youtu.be/wqdnQ1Yei_4 31,000 views. AR15 style rifles can also be built just requires more expensive tooling. Nice thing about building your self is there are no serial number’s and no government paperwork..

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YOURSENSEI
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:10am
This is what you must know:

An assault rifle is a gun which is about to be regulated.

It is so.

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usmc6570
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:07am
When I joined the Marines in 65, I was issued a M14, not an assault rifle, gin a typical rifle squad there was one rifle with a selector switch to be used as an automatic rifle. While in Viet Nam we changed over to M16, an assault rifle, with a selector switch, the purpose was to gain fire superiority in fire fight, then you set it back to semi. After I returned I was assigned to a security detachment where we were given M1, again not an assault rifle. The AR 15 is a semi-auto. You can easily buy military rifle such as a M1 or M14, both semi auto.
Biden and the rest of the cronies really have no idea of what an assault rifle is. BTW the M14 was used as a sniper rifle.

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WillG
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 11:06am
Perhaps this story will educate the “Gun-Haters” and maybe the “scary”looking Firearms will not scare them anymore. One can dream I suppose.

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...sam
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 10:58am
A law abiding American citizen should be able to own the same gun the goverment has….Our Goverment should fear the people then we get liberty. When we the people fear the goverment we suffer from tyranny…

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