stchman
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From what I understand, an "assault weapon" is a firearm capable of select fire (semi-auto to full-auto). In anti-gun terms, an evil machine gun.
What is an assault weapon?
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Theohazard
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See post #15.
tark
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How about any weapon that was full-auto in its original military configuration, and had to be adapted to semi-auto only for civilian sale
Deanimator
Member
I prefer "Stalinesque".
The origin of the term assault rifle goes back to the German Sturmgewehr. Intermediate cartridge, full auto capability, and higher capacity magazine are features.
Many claim the term assault weapon (to include shotguns and pistol caliber firearms) was invented by some antigunner. I beg to differ.
"Assault weapon" was a term invented by manufacturers and gun writers in the late 70s, early 80s as a marketing term. Prior to this time period you cold get a AR15 from Colt or a Mini 14 and that's about it. No one referred to them as assault rifles.
Clones of the Colt AR15 came about in the late 70s. Bushmaster is one of the early ones. Semiautomatic versions of HK91s and 93s, Valmets, and FNs became available. These became known as assault rifles.
I have magazine from the early 80s titled "The Complete Book of the Assault Weapon".
Hardly a term invented by antigunners in the late 80s.
Many claim the term assault weapon (to include shotguns and pistol caliber firearms) was invented by some antigunner. I beg to differ.
"Assault weapon" was a term invented by manufacturers and gun writers in the late 70s, early 80s as a marketing term. Prior to this time period you cold get a AR15 from Colt or a Mini 14 and that's about it. No one referred to them as assault rifles.
Clones of the Colt AR15 came about in the late 70s. Bushmaster is one of the early ones. Semiautomatic versions of HK91s and 93s, Valmets, and FNs became available. These became known as assault rifles.
I have magazine from the early 80s titled "The Complete Book of the Assault Weapon".
Hardly a term invented by antigunners in the late 80s.
Sistema1927
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barnbwt
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Yeah, don't fact-shame me with your facts, bro!
Going back to what I said about Orwellian language; 'whatever-shaming' is definitely another example, as is 'whatever-splaining,' as is 'whatever-lobby' and 'whatever-violence.' Basically, any two-word combination 'word' is generally a bogus term coined to mislead people (the English language was not designed such that every noun needed an adjective paired with it in order to convey meaning; these were added by liars to obfuscate the noun in question, by 'cloaking' it in the adjective.
We don't speak-talk by putting-oning extra-redundant descriptor-adjectives unless we're peddling "alternate-facts" (what's really creepy, is that in typing this, I realized that there are people out there who almost sound like this, conversing almost entirely in Newspeak)
Going back to what I said about Orwellian language; 'whatever-shaming' is definitely another example, as is 'whatever-splaining,' as is 'whatever-lobby' and 'whatever-violence.' Basically, any two-word combination 'word' is generally a bogus term coined to mislead people (the English language was not designed such that every noun needed an adjective paired with it in order to convey meaning; these were added by liars to obfuscate the noun in question, by 'cloaking' it in the adjective.
We don't speak-talk by putting-oning extra-redundant descriptor-adjectives unless we're peddling "alternate-facts" (what's really creepy, is that in typing this, I realized that there are people out there who almost sound like this, conversing almost entirely in Newspeak)
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CapnMac
Member
An "assault weapon" is like an "assault dog" as defined by someone who has never been around house pets of any kind and only experience of wild creatures of any sort is by way of nature documentaries.
CapnMac
Member
Apt, as that regime saw the coining of several bits of newspeak--like "Potemkin Village."
However, Orwell is the one who really mapped out the consequences of words only having the meanings rulers assign to them. Which requires a lap-dog media to disseminate each iteration of doublegood right-think newspeak as it is developed.
Which really make the recent revelations on "psychological design" being used in gaming and social media platforms to encourage addictive behaviors all the more chilling. Our youth have been targeted for decades, to get them on, and hooked, to digital devices., where ad content (and any other content) can be directed to them directly.
"Assault 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." Josh Sugarmann, executive director and founder of the Violence Policy Center (VPC).
Josh Sugarman of the "Violence Policy Center" was probably not the first to use the term "assault weapon". He must have been one of the first to use it in a legal sense though, claiming that it is a unique class of firearms, especially deadly and worthy of banning. In fact, he would rather ban all handguns but considers an "assault weapon" ban to be a more realistic goal.
"Sugarmann has opposed the widespread availability of semi-automatic rifles. In 1988 he published a study, Assault Weapons and Accessories in America. It examined the growing popularity of semiautomatic weapons, referring to them as "assault weapons".[6] Together with the response to a mass shooting in Stockton, California, the following year, his study has been credited for popularizing the use of the term "assault weapons."[7] The Violence Policy Center 1988 study documents advertising by the gun industry that specifically refers to these weapons as assault rifles.[6][page needed]
Sugarmann has written two books on gun control. National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower & Fear (1992) was an exposé of the National Rifle Association.[8][9] The second, Every Handgun is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns (2000), gives reasons to ban private possession of handguns in the United States.[10][11][12]
He maintains a Class One Federal Firearms License in Washington, DC, which makes it legal for him to transfer and handle firearms.[13] Sugarmann believes a full ban on handguns is necessary.[14] He has also called for bans on semi-automatic rifles and firearm magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds.[1]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Sugarmann#Career
Josh Sugarman of the "Violence Policy Center" was probably not the first to use the term "assault weapon". He must have been one of the first to use it in a legal sense though, claiming that it is a unique class of firearms, especially deadly and worthy of banning. In fact, he would rather ban all handguns but considers an "assault weapon" ban to be a more realistic goal.
"Sugarmann has opposed the widespread availability of semi-automatic rifles. In 1988 he published a study, Assault Weapons and Accessories in America. It examined the growing popularity of semiautomatic weapons, referring to them as "assault weapons".[6] Together with the response to a mass shooting in Stockton, California, the following year, his study has been credited for popularizing the use of the term "assault weapons."[7] The Violence Policy Center 1988 study documents advertising by the gun industry that specifically refers to these weapons as assault rifles.[6][page needed]
Sugarmann has written two books on gun control. National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower & Fear (1992) was an exposé of the National Rifle Association.[8][9] The second, Every Handgun is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns (2000), gives reasons to ban private possession of handguns in the United States.[10][11][12]
He maintains a Class One Federal Firearms License in Washington, DC, which makes it legal for him to transfer and handle firearms.[13] Sugarmann believes a full ban on handguns is necessary.[14] He has also called for bans on semi-automatic rifles and firearm magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds.[1]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Sugarmann#Career
Theohazard
Member
Do you have any evidence for this claim? I don’t dispute that the gun industry has used the term for marketing, but it’s not clear to me who was the first to use the term. I found an article by Wayne King in the New York Times that uses the term, and that article was written in 1980. Can you show me a time the term was used by the gun industry before that?
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Well stated; I agree with your concept.
You can probably think of many hyphenated works in which the adjective is used to define the message being driven. Sailor by itself has no messaging intent; most know what a drunken-sailor is intended to mean. The Left is well aware of this tactic as they decry the term illegal-alien. Therefore the term undocumented-immigrant is used exclusively.
Unfortunately, emotions do have a role in molding one’s perception. And the more you can control the “airways”, the more you can get people agreeing with you. The Right can be factually correct but still lose the argument based on how it conducts itself during the fray.
I find the term assault-weapon an assault on my intelligence.
Someone that knows his history and isn't trying to rewrite it. Refreshing.
Jackal
Member
An assault weapon is a weapon used in an assault. Adolf Hitler coined the term Assault Rifle when promoting the Nazi Sturmgewehr. Now, Hitlers term is used by anti gun groups to disarm the public... Seems legit...
Theohazard
Member
OK, then show some evidence that proves he's right. So far I've shown in my previous post that the New York Times used the term "assault weapon" as early as 1980. Please show me where the gun industry used that term for marketing purposes before then. If you can show me some evidence, I'll be happy to concede that you're right. Until then, I'll remain skeptical, because it annoys me when people make claims without providing a shred of evidence.
So is it your position that "assault weapon" is a true technical class of firearms or merely that the phrase was informally used before being adopted as a psuedo-technical term by gun ban activists? If it is the second, what does that mean? Or maybe there is another possibility?
If you don't mind, what is your position on efforts to ban semi-auto firearms?
So let me get this straight....if I beat somebody with a salt block and a car battery, I get charged with assult and battery and the assult weopon is a salt block and a battery.....I just wanna do this to see how it plays out in court
My position is that the term Assault Rifle and Assault Weapon was widely used in the gun community in the 80's and 90's. I grew up reading gun magazines and they had no issue with the term nor did they attempt to limit the term "Assault Rifle" to only select fire guns. It is only in the past 10 years or so that the industry has abandoned that term and has switched to "Modern Sporting Rifle" in an attempt to win the branding war. Pretending otherwise is attempting to rewrite history.
Proof. Well I didn't save all my gun magazines. Will vintage Guns & Ammo covers do?
I do not support banning semi-automatic firearms.
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caribou
Member
Orwell is high fasion , nowdays. Its really creepy how it really is here inthe US, NSA's Stellerwind and tec we dont even have a clue about,added to the lax laws for police and the double statndards we have for politicians and citizens in regards to law. etc etc etc
An assault weapon usually has a bayonet lug on it somewhere.
I was thinking about adding a folding bayonet to my .22, make it way more deadly.
An assault weapon usually has a bayonet lug on it somewhere.
I was thinking about adding a folding bayonet to my .22, make it way more deadly.
Theohazard
Member
I can't speak for anyone else here, but I'll say that I'm not claiming that the terms "assault rifle" and "assault weapon" have never been used as marketing terms by the gun industry, because they obviously have. What I take issue with is the claim made by @GRIZ22 that the term "assault weapon" was specifically invented by the gun industry. And that's a claim that you appeared to agree with in your previous post.
Again, I'll be happy to concede that you're both right if you can show me some kind if evidence, because right now I'm not seeing any. I've shown that the New York Times used "assault weapon" as early as 1980. Show me an instance of the gun industry using the term before that.
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Theohazard
Member
No. You're confused about the terminology used in this thread. Once again I'm going to encourage everyone to read post #15, which explains the difference between assault weapons and assault rifles. This thread is about the made-up political term "assault weapon", not the valid (but often misused) term "assault rifle".
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yokel
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The leftists have even christened some of them as "Dreamers"!
How's that for an Orwellian attempt at culture shaping?
Indeed, language can be a powerful and potent thing, shaping perceptions and framing the terms of debate.
We all understand that it is no coincidence that those who are hostile to Second Amendment rights tend to lean quite heavily on terms such as "assault weapons", "weapons of war", "illegal guns" and especially "gun violence" The implicit message is: Guns are bad; more regulations and restrictions are good.
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