I’ve heard people using the wrong term when describing modern sporting rifles long enough. It’s time to take certain individuals back to school.
The firearms impacted by the so-called “assault weapons” are not, in fact, assault weapons. That is an improper use of the term. Allow me to clarify:
The term “assault rifle” comes from a Nazi-designed weapon called the Sturmgewehr (storm rifle) Stg44. By definition, an assault rifle must possess certain features:
1) Be chambered in what the military refers to as an “intermediate caliber.”
2) Have a detachable box type magazine.
3) Be capable of select (semi- and full-automatic) fire.
4) Be suitable for use by the military.
Rifles owned by the majority of citizens and the ones specificly named in the ban have a two-position switch located (usually) on the side of the rifle. It’s called a safety. In safe mode, the gun will not fire if you attempt to pull the trigger. Move the switch to the second position, pull the trigger and the gun goes bang — but only once. Release the trigger and pull it again and you are rewarded with another bang. Repeat. This is what is known as “semi-automatic.”
On a true assault rifle, there is also a switch that looks similar to the one on the modern sporting rifle, but with a third position. While this switch operates the same in the first two positions — safe and semi-auto — in the third position, multiple rounds can be fired with one squeeze of the trigger or “full automatic.”.All firearms capable of full automatic fire have been heavily regulated since 1934.
Semi-automatic firearm design dates back to 1885. This is not new technology. What is new are the lies perpetrated by the media and the political left. They took an old term used to describe a rifle meant for military service and twisted it to mean any rifle that merely looks like a military weapon. Modern sporting rifles are simply updated versions of the rifle your grandfather might have used for deer hunting.
The debate over whether these types of guns should be banned will rage on. Let us at least use the proper terminology and call them what they really are – modern sporting rifles.
HOWARD GRANT
Montague