A Brief History of the Assault Rifle. Well, strictly speaking, an “assault weapon” is a weapon used primarily by the infantry in an army. Typically it will fire a rifle caliber (e.g. By U.S. Army definition, a selective-fire rifle chambered for a cartridge of intermediate power. A 2013 Colorado bill defined an “assault weapon” as all firearms except “handguns, shotguns, and bolt-action rifles,” thus encompassing most rifles. The gun’s name may have been coined by Adolf Hitler. Michael Shurkin . Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are technically not assault rifles, despite frequently being called such. For example: Select-fire M2 carbines and Amogh carbines are not assault rifles; their effective range is only 200 yards. While your argument runs on the basis that an AR-15 is not an assault rifle because it doesn’t have a selector switch and doesn’t achieve full-auto in “most civilian” models, it’s a straw man argument, because as I stated, with little effort, the civilian model can be altered to achieve those criteria. An assault rifle is defined as a hand-held weapon capable of firing in an automatic or semi-automatic mode. . Assault rifle definition is - any of various intermediate-range, magazine-fed military rifles (such as the AK-47) that can be set for automatic or semiautomatic fire; also : a rifle that resembles a military assault rifle but is designed to allow only semiautomatic fire. The definition varies among regulating jurisdictions but usually includes semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magazine, a pistol grip and sometimes other features such as a vertical forward grip, flash suppressor or barrel shroud. There are two distinct terms: “assault rifle”, and “assault weapon”. A semi-automatic weapon fires with each trigger pull, whereas a fully … i know i do. Which assault rifles are legal for US citizens to purchase? While your argument runs on the basis that an AR-15 is not an assault rifle because it doesn’t have a selector switch and doesn’t achieve full-auto in “most civilian” models, it’s a straw man argument, because as I stated, with little effort, the civilian model can be altered to achieve those criteria. my description of my Bushmaster M4A2 Carbine is best said as being a semi-auto rifle built on the AR platform. For example, an M-16 can, with one trigger pull, fire either single-shot, multiple shot or full-auto. the only thing it has ever "assaulted" was paper and steel targets! It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in either criminal or civil liability. Assault weapons include some semi-automatic rifle, some pistols and some shotguns. most gun owners actually detest and hate the terms, "assault rifle" or "assault weapon". June 30, 2016 . I saw that three rifles would be no match for them, and so I gave the word to put out from shore, hoping that the "tiger," as the ancients called him, could not swim. So an AR-15 is not an assault rifle by the original, unpoliticized technical definition, is usually an assault rifle by the legal definition, and is very seldom an assault rifle by the functional definition.