BELLEVUE, WA – -(AmmoLand.com)- After years of incorporating the terms “assault rifle” and “assault weapons” into news reports involving firearms, especially when used in crimes, journalists are now advised by the Associated Press to avoid the “highly politicized terms,” and the Second Amendment Foundation says it’s a “smart gun change.”
“It’s about time the media realized the terms ‘assault rifle’ and ‘assault weapon’ are inflammatory and meaningless,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb.
“Those terms have become part of the gun prohibition lobby’s lexicon, and unfortunately, journalists across the country have been all-too-willing to adopt their vocabulary and repeatedly use it in their reports.
“I’m glad to see the AP Stylebook now recognizes that these firearms only fire one round each time a trigger is pulled,” he continued, “and really function no differently than any other semi-auto rifle, pistol or shotgun, all of which have been in common use in this country for more than a century.”
According to an AP Style Tip, “The preferred term for a rifle that fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled, and automatically reloads for a subsequent shot, is a semi-automatic rifle. An automatic rifle continuously fires rounds if the trigger is depressed and until its ammunition is exhausted.
The Stylebook’s weapons entry offers guidance on terms including semi-automatic rifle, assault rifle, assault weapon, military-style rifle and modern sporting rifle. pic.twitter.com/RvNrZp1lu2
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) July 13, 2022
“Avoid assault rifle and assault weapon,” the AP adds, “which are highly politicized terms that generally refer to AR- or AK-style rifles designed for the civilian market, but convey little meaning about the actual functions of the weapon.”
As noted by Gottlieb, “The gun prohibition lobby has always used ‘assault rifle’ or ‘assault weapon’ to confuse and frighten the public and make people think it’s a fully automatic ‘weapon of war.’ Now we’ll have to see how intellectually honest journalists will be in adopting this correct terminology, rather than continuing to use these deliberately misleading references.
“This laudable effort by the Associated Press may help restore the level of trust the public should have in the media,” he observed. “It will be interesting to see if the media now challenges politicians and anti-gun lobbyists whenever they use such terms, especially since ‘AR’ never referred to ‘assault rifle’ but to Armalite Rifle, and the gun control crowd has always known it.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 750,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
Amazed they are dropping the assault rifle term. They love “assault” as it helps them drive fear and confuse the public.
By dropping assault rifle and using semiautomatic rifle, what would seem more likely is that media reports will drive home the point that some psychotic used a semiautomatic rifle or handgun to commit a crime. Thus semiautomatic = target to ban, just as weapons of war and assault rifle are now. May not be a step in the right direction at all. Hide your 10/22’s.
The media also is known to include A High Powered Weapon was used. Along with a military style weapon.
The AP and the left could care less if they are being divisive by using “highly politicized terms”. All this means is that the left has come up with a new end game that will continue the assault on our 2nd Amendment. Don’t be fooled by fools.
Were it not for hyperbole and inflammatory language the left would not be able to make an argument.
Pedantics when discussing firearms is EXTREMELY important. One can not have logical and reasonable discourse about firearms if the person they are conversing with is comparing apples to oranges. This is one of the two most important things to remember when discussing firearms with antis, the first being to always remain calm and non-insulting. The furniture (cosmetics) of a firearm has absolutely no effect on the ballistic capabilities of said firearm except barrel length. This simple statement has helped me.open the eyes of many antis I have talked with. Though they still do not budge, this exposes their arguments as… Read more »
This is not about using the correct verbiage, this is about winding the scope of the gun grabbers focus. Not just to ban Assault Rifle, but to ban all Simi-Automatic firearms. It’s still the same old all guns are bad, but these are the most evil weapons of war that sensible laws should remove from society because nobody needs Simi-Automatic weapons for hunting. The liberals are always using semantics as a weapon to a means.
If we keep racking up 2A victories, the Overton Window WILL shift, and outfits like AP will be forced to drop inflammatory terms like ‘gun violence’. So losing the ‘AW’ verbiage is, to steal a line from the other side, “a good start”!
Once upon a time there was this thing called journalism. It no longer exists, but it’s an interesting concept. It’s difficult to believe now, but it was actually taught in some colleges and universities and occasionally encouraged.
The next thing they need to figure out is, the term “gun crime” is ridiculous. It should be referred to as “violent crime”. Personally, if I was going to be murdered, I’d rather be shot than stabbed or bludgeoned. It would be quicker and less painful. Besides, if a criminal couldn’t get a gun, he would just use something else.