robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Donna
An assault weapon is anything you use as a weapon to assault someone. Someone beats you with a frying pan it is an assault weapon.
The term was partly introduced by people who didn't know the correct term for what they were talking about and partly it was deliberate to blur the line between a real "assault rifle" which is a military term and these look-a-like rifles. This was done because they know the general public doesn't know any better and it makes them sound more menacing. Many are under the mistaken belief that like real military assault rifles they are a form of machine gun when they are not.

Your earlier post and the gas reducing the recoil. Almost right, there are multiple ways to reduce recoil and multiple ways to use energy to work the guns action. Recoil operated guns use recoil to operate through springs it can also reduce the recoil that is passed on to the shooter as "kick". "That is a hard kicking gun!" The other main system is gas operated. A portion of the gases produced by the burning powder (which is under very high pressure and is what pushes the bullet down the barrel and out) is tapped off through a tiny hole and pushes a piston which in turn operates the gun. This can also reduce the recoil/kick, in some guns by a lot depending on the design.

There are also flash suppressors, flash hiders, compensators and muzzle brakes.

flash suppressors cause any unburned powder and gases to mix and burn the powder before it comes out and creates a ball of fire/muzzle flash

flash hiders split these burning gases and spread them off to the side so you do not get a ball of fire which can among other things blind the shooter for a time

compensators direct some of those gases up and keeps the gun's muzzle from flipping up or climbing, this makes the gun easier to control and aim

muzzle brakes have a solid metal baffle inside which the gas pushes on as it is split up counteracting the backward "kick" of the gun

An example of how much many anti-gun people do not understand what they are talking about.
There is a rifle made by Springfield (other companies make them under other names) called the M1A. It is a civilian legal, semi-automatic only version of the military M-14. Because the M-14 fires a full power rifle cartridge (7.62x51 Nato/.308 in civilian terms) it is not an assault rifle, it is classified as a Main Battle Rifle. Big, heavy, and kicks hard compared to the cartridges used in assault rifles. The ammunition is also bigger and heavier so a solder cannot carry as much. For all these reasons the modern military in large part went over to the M-16 and reserve the M-14 for special uses (it also has longer range than the M-16 so is used in cases where that range and the heavier bullet with its higher energy when it hits something are needed) Many military medium machine guns mounted on pedestals, tripods or bipods fire this same cartridge or one similar in the case of some other armies.

Now the part the anti-gun people get wrong. Most of them are made with a standard US Army flash hider/bayonet lug combination piece on the muzzle. Some (here in CA for one) decided this made it deadlier (it doesn't) and easier to shoot rapidly, it only protects the eye sight from the flash in dim light. So they specified that here in CA they had to be equipped with a different design and no bayonet lug. The designs they approved when presented were actually muzzle brakes, which do make it easier to aim and fire rapidly. Just the opposite of what they thought they were accomplishing. As to no bayonet lug, well I don't recall a single drive by bayoneting in the news so that was a solution to a problem that didn't exist. Besides a knife is much easier to carry and use. Three years in the army, two in Vietnam, carrying the M-14 and the only thing I used my bayonet for was to open cans and slice sausages or cheese.

Keenan Loc: Central Coast California

Yea let's just keep getting hung up on whether or not you are stupid for calling it an assault rifle or whether or not you are deliberately trying to blur the line between a real "assault rifle" which is a military term and these look-a-like rifles, etc., just as long as we never get around to discussing any of the substantive issues.

Wellhiem Loc: Sunny England.

Does it matter what you call it? You point it at someone, you pull the trigger and someone dies. Whatever you call it, someone's family is left devastated. You have a mass shooting almost daily. If gun control is not the answer, then what is?

Keenan Loc: Central Coast California

dljen Loc: Central PA

Thank you for explaining this, Robert. One question...when the shooter puts his finger on the trigger, if he holds it down, is it automatic?

Cykdelic Loc: Now outside of Chiraq & Santa Fe, NM

Donna,

No mansplaining involved.......just politicalsplaining!

Per the earlier post, "assault ...entered the American lexicon in the late 1980s, originated as a political ploy by gun control advocates or as a marketing ploy by gun retailers"

Folks who actually shoot all these things tell me it's very, very simple: if it can shoot fully automatic, it's an assault weapon.

I hear this from special forces guys, cops, hobbyists, and hunters at a 100% clip, so I'm buying it.

dljen Loc: Central PA

Thanks, I think I know more about guns than I ever wanted to.

hondo812 Loc: Massachusetts

Donna, like I said, I'm no gun expert but I do pay attention. Dennis is a good source of information as are other up here who have served in the military and are still active with hunting and guns.

What makes the choice for the Sig MCX interesting is the shooter knew he was going into a loud environment with lights flashing and a crowded killing floor of people. The gun he used was not a "high powered" weapon as it shoots a fairly small projectile but it shoots it pretty fast (feet/sec). Conversely, if he had brought a .45 caliber Colt 1911 hand gun he could have shot up the place but it would have been loud and the exit holes would have been huge.

The shooter planned this and selected his weapons accordingly based on the environment he was going to.

hondo812 Loc: Massachusetts

You mean Obama has one almost daily. Look at the presidents before him and find out how many they each had.

Cykdelic Loc: Now outside of Chiraq & Santa Fe, NM

It's kinda odd how crazed we all are arguing guns as a means of death. If you talk with experts in hand-to-hand combat, small arms expertise, martial arts, etc., they pretty much across the board support the following statement:

All things being close to equal, at 20 feet a blade expert has a slight advantage over a gun. Within 10 feet, it isn't even a contest.......blade wins.

As for all of our mass shootings, whether they be by nuts or Islamist terrorists, or other...........for those who were not in OK City, I can assure you that I like my chances against any gun a lot more than I like them against a powerful bomb pulled up to the front of the building I'm in.

It's simple......I think true assault weapons are illegal. Hand guns require a license. Shotguns and rifles are somewhere in between. Enforce these freaking laws, forget political correctness and move against the gangs (folks, if you lived here in Chiraq you would just shit!), and almost all the rest will fall into place.

Anyone screaming for more laws are just parrots repeating the political agenda of elected idiots.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

There you go again!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Culture change, criminal control for "regular" violence, somehow get Hollywood and TV to stop or cut back on the glorification of violence as the answer to everything. (hard to do when you are a free society) Destruction of the sources/organizations that promote the terror attacks.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

There you go again!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

No Donna, if you hold the trigger of a semi-auto back it only fires one shot no matter how long you hold it.

Full auto (machine guns) are the only ones that keep firing until the trigger is released, they run out of ammunition or they jam/something breaks.
The have actually tried military guns that fired the entire magazine of ammunition even if you let go of the trigger, the idea was dropped quickly for several reasons. A now passed on WW II veteran I knew (actually my dentist) was issued a Thompson sub-machine gun like that on Guadalcanal for a short time. They quickly modified it back to semi-auto or full auto select operation with firing stopped when you released the trigger.

Checkmate Loc: Southern California

You still haven't define one yet. Slowly, what is your idea or definition of an assault weapon?