So Called ‘Assault Weapons’ ~ When Words Are Used Instead of Guns To Disarm Us

Opinion

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Let’s start off at the very beginning, following the “Yellow Brick Road,” with a few definitions and essential information for those new gun owners, non-gun owners, and anti-gun critters. Please note I’m sorry if I insult those already in the know!

Definition of the word ASSAULT

assault – verb: a violent physical or verbal attack.

Definition of the word WEAPON

weapon – noun: something (such as a club, knife, gun, etc.) used to injure, defeat, or destroy someone or something.

Definition of a RIFLE

rifle – noun: a shoulder fired firearm with a rifled bore (spiral grooves in the bore).

Definition of a PISTOL

pistol – noun: a specifically handheld firearm whose chamber is integral with the barrel.

Definition of a SEMIAUTOMATIC FIREARM

semiautomatic firearm – noun: a firearm able to fire repeatedly through an automatic reloading process but requiring the trigger to be pulled for each successive shot (a semiautomatic rifle or pistol).

Definition of a MACHINE GUN

machine gun – noun: a firearm for sustained rapid fire, or burst,  on a single pull of the trigger. (a.k.a. an automatic weapon).

Definition of the phrase ASSAULT RIFLE

assault rifle – noun: any of various intermediate-range, magazine-fed military rifles that can be set for automatic or semiautomatic fire (a.k.a. Select Fire).

So where does the infamous Assault Weapon fit into the linguistic picture? It doesn’t! It’s essentially MADE UP! Here’s a brief history:

During World War II, Hugo Schmeisser designed a light rifle to fire the Germans’ 7.92-mm Kurz (“Short”) cartridge, which was of the same caliber as the Mauser rifle cartridge but was lighter and shorter and was therefore of a less-potent “intermediate” power. This weapon became known as the Sturmgewehr (“Assault Rifle”) 44 (also MP44). It had a curved box 30-round magazine and was designed for approximately 300 yards. It was a lightweight automatic infantry weapon for the 21st century.

Notice, they didn’t call it an Assault Weapon, as it was specifically a lightweight rifle capable of automatic fire.

Years later, upon investigating history, it was discovered that in the late 1980s, Josh Sugarmann, a gun-control activist and founder of Violence Policy Center (vpc.org), coined the term “Assault Weapon” in a paper he authored. In his writing, Sugarmann stated:

“Assault weapons—just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms—are a new topic. The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these weapons.”

This is where the tactic of gaining public support by blending the terms Assault Rifle and Assault Weapon comes into play. While the true origin of the term Assault Weapon is uncertain and remains a topic of heated debate, the ultimate objective of gun control is not merely to disarm individuals but to eradicate the capacity for self-defense. By merging the terms “Rifle” and “Weapon,” the connotation of the latter encompasses a wider range of items, including anything that can be wielded as a weapon, thus serving the purpose of eliminating self-defense. It’s important to remember that a RIFLE is simply a RIFLE, a PISTOL is just a PISTOL, but a WEAPON can be anything – from a firearm to a blade, a rock, or even the chair you’re seated on.

So the confusing conflation of Assault Rifles and Assault Weapons completes the attack on Self-Defense. An attack on anything that can be used as a weapon for defense, thrusts the self-defense attack quietly into the mainstream.

That can explain why the Left wants to disarm gun owners of anything that can be used any way they can. They scream ASSAULT WEAPON, implying black, ugly, military-style rifles, but they’re really after any self-defense items. That is how they are trying to force our cooperation and approval of complete disarmament. So they lie. AND THAT MY FRIENDS IS THE BIG LIE, the attempted destruction personal self-defense.

Just look around at the Blue Cities and States attacking the victims instead of the perpetrators with legal actions. Look at countries like England and Australia who; punish those who try and protect themselves.

The conflation of the terms Assault Rifle and Assault Weapon is also known as ‘norming,’ the act of normalizing an idea or behavior. Norming is also a trick that the United Nations does in their Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), but that’s a story for another time.

During these current times of incredible Governmental Lies that are circulating throughout our culture, our society is cleaving into separate angry groups of confused, frightened people. Police forces are finding their own safety an issue through defunding.  And we struggle with the need to protect our families from criminal violence and tyranny. These attacks and lies are a constant physical grind upon Americans. And that grind creates Federal Over-reach.

We find this new ‘normal’ as only a next step in the continuous efforts from our home-grown Leftists, where the attempted disarmament by the Left is trying to overwhelm our values of Freedom and Liberty. These lying norms are a direct threat to our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.

Without self-defense, there is no self-reliance. Without self-reliance, there is bigger government. And with bigger government, there is only tyranny.

See Related: Taking Back the Fake Language From The Gun Grabbers


About The Author

Alan J Chwick has been involved with firearms much of his life and is the Retired Managing Coach of the Freeport NY Junior Marksmanship Club. He has escaped New York State to South Carolina and is an SC FFL (Everything22andMore.com). [email protected] | TWITTER: @iNCNF | TruthSocial: @iNCNFEditor

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Arizona

When agents of the federal government requisition these firearms for use, they call them “personal defensive weapon” or PDW. So we shall call them the same, and point out to gun grabbing politicians that the police and federal agents call them PDW’s and they are for “defense”!

Trussman

The left, by the above simple definitions are so stupid. The AR-15 by definition is only a rifle, same as any other rifle, only with different features. A violent person can turn anything into an “assault weapon”. Assault is an offensive verb, and shows offensive aggression toward another person or group of persons. Any inanimate object that is used to attack another person is an “assault weapon”. The person that murdered the four students in Idaho recently used an “assault weapon”, his “assault weapon” of choice was a knife. It could just as easily been a hammer, screwdriver, or a… Read more »

Arizona

And per FBI reports, every year, more are killed by using baseball bats, hammers, knives, and even fists than all rifle styles combined. If someone is intent on murder, no addition law will dissuade them. No law other than those criminalizing murder, assault, or robbery is necessary or helpful in the pursuit of ending violence. Plus, all gun control laws are unconstitutional. Blatantly. Laws do not prevent crime; they merely define it and set punishment for the act.

USMC0351Grunt

All I can find is an, “Assault Jawbone of an Ass”?

GomeznSA

Sigh, this is why terminology is so critical – David used a sling, not a ‘slingshot’ (currently that is a three wheeled autocycle ;-).
NOT picking on you but it is imperative that we use proper terminology.
The left is very adept at confusing the uneducated by conflating “assault weapon” with any gun they don’t like such as evil black rifles.

USMC0351Grunt

Probably an AOW, “Any Other Weapon” or SBS “Short Barrel Shotgun”?

JDT

Assault mouths
I built myself a new AR15 and named it whoopie…

Last edited 11 months ago by JDT
GomeznSA

JDT – what did that poor little ole rifle do to you for you to curse it with such a horrible name? I guess you had to name it something since Charlene was already taken

CarlosDanger

Arguing the technical definition of “assault weapon” is pointless because the terminology is really just semantics, and even if we somehow could convince the gun grabbers that a semi-auto AR15 is technically not an assault weapon, would that change anything at all? Of course not. Their goal of disarming the civilian population isn’t going anywhere. The drum that we SHOULD be beating is that the intention of the founders was that civilians possess the same weapons that government agents do. We should not concede that law enforcement at all levels be able to possess whatever full-auto SBRs they choose, and… Read more »

Arizona

Correct. The founders were clear there should be no exceptions for agents of the state or politicians. All laws must apply equally to every American, and no laws can legally limit civilian ownership of weapons. They specifically stated they wanted parity between citizens and government, with the intent the citizens could thereby hold the government accountable. They boasted that the US government would be kept honest by armed citizens. Even the Miller scotus case, the first major case on arms, said military arms and those most useful for war were protected by the 2nd.

Bigfootbob

It would be nice since you spent an extraordinary amount of print space defining what most people here know, to have added some solutions that readers of your article could do to counteract the agenda. Many of us are willing but may need direction how to help.

AJChwick

Stated: “Please note I’m sorry if I insult those already in the know!” And on the ‘what to do’ issue, that’s simple. Get involved, question your elected critters often, vote the positive agenda, support the shooting sports at all levels (especially in schools), support at least one (if not more) strong groups (GOA, JPFO, SAF, NRA, Jews Can Shoot,etc.) plus at least one at your state level, support groups that sue to protect your Rights at any level (State or Federal), buy ammo, by firearms, teach your kids when they are young, definitely speak up within your family, and don’t… Read more »

jack mac

The term “assault rifle/weapon” is a phrase in a lie to fool that is repeated by those fooled. There are too many people who would be expected to know better but do not. The Pro-gun who actually believe assault rifles exist can be as difficult to convince to stop using the term as it is to stop the anti-gun who intentionally wrongfully use the term. Because the leader of a genocidal regime nicknamed the MP44 a sturmgrewhr (assault rifle) does not make it so. It is simply a (full) automatic rifle legally called a machine gun. Having a select-fire feature… Read more »

Doug G.

The first step, one that has already been started, is for the pro-gun side and 2A people to STOP using the made up term “assault weapon” when talking about AR platform rifles/Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR)/Personal Defensive Weapon (PDW) in speech and print.
From the article note that leftist Merriam-Webster Dictionary actually changed the definition of assault rifle in around 2019, to include semi-auto rifles with detachable magazines and other features like muzzle break, pistol grip, collapsing buttstock, etc..

USMC0351Grunt

The ONLY assault weapons we used in the Marines looked nothing like the AR-15’s or even the M-16’s. https://www.operationmilitarykids.org/marine-corps-infantry-assault-mos-0351/

USMC0351Grunt

Ever notice the correlation to boating accidents each and every time stories like this come up? Makes me wonder if the Red Cross is going to add this sort of thing to their Swimmer Safety or Life Guard training classes?

StLPro2A

We The Little Peeps have made a grave mistake by attempting to declare that ARs et el aren’t assault weapons. OK, they are…if used to assault another. And, the Second Amendment expects citizens to come bearing assault weapons of current technology when the need arises. At the penning of the 2A, framers expected patriots to answer the call to arms bearing the best technological weapons of the day…not single shot sling shots and rocks in sacks of quantities less than 10. Vets and patriots need say “Hell, yeah, we’ve got assault weapons. Keep destroying America and see them in action.”… Read more »

GomeznSA

‘close’ on the bogus term “assault weapon” – it was originally coined by one Art Agnos a kalypornia legislator trying to get them banned in the mid ’70s, didn’t work – sugar man grabbed the term specifically to confuse the non gun crowd.
Unlike ‘assault rifle’ it still has no military nor legally consistent definition, BTW ‘credit’ adolf for the specific term as he was the first to coin it.