AR-15 A Machine Gun?

[rscalzo]

Comparing an AR15 to a Machine gun puts in the mind of the public that and ar15 IS a machine gun

As a matter of fact, AR15's were available in FA. We had one purchased in 1965 for use by our department. It was ordered and delivered in a full auto configuration. It was marked as a Colt AR15, one of the first sold to police agencies.

 

[MGshaggy]

Truth ne told a selective fire AR15 is not even truely a Machine gun, it is an assult weopon.

Not according to the US Code.

 

[paintballdude902]

jr u mean like the mg42?

 

[MGshaggy]

There's no such thing as an "assault weapon". That's a made up term to make people confuse assault rifles with a semi auto rifle based on the military selective fire version.

hso - I keep hearing this, but have never heard any source for it. The term "semi-automatic assault weapon" was a statutorily defined term in the US Code during the time the 1994 AWB was in effect. Can you cite an official source wherein the term "assault weapon" was codified or defined as a selective fire, intermediate caliber rifle (or something similar)?

 

[mike101]

Not to nitpick, but the reporter's exact words were these.

"One of the machine guns taken looked like this one, an AR-15"

Then they showed a picture of an AR-15 with a five round mag.

 

[Shung]

I have got a Colt M4 built on a M16A1 lower...

the Colt markings says:

Colt (logo)
AR-15
Property of US GOVT
M16A1
Cal 5.56 MM
XXXXXXXXX (serial)



So my AR-15 really looks like a machine gun

 

[edSky]

Hey, Vernon is cool, he's older than me. He has been around a long time, and was reporting live when then Philly Mayor Wilson B. Goode personally bombed the M.O.V.E. headquarters (from a Philadelphia Air-Force helicopter) back in the 1980's.

Vernon probably does a lot of his reporting extemporaneously, and it doesn't seem like he made a horrible error. He was reporting on the crime, not the evils of black guns.

Read about Vernon here: http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/odom.html

 

[Gunnerpalace]

Sugarmann is credited with first coining the term "assault weapon

Yeah I cant add any more to that pretty much sums it up.

 

[Art Eatman]

MGshaggy, prior to all the noises about the evil assault weapons, most of the gun folks referred to selective fire critters as assault rifles. It was not until a few semi-auto AKs and SKS types got used in highly-publicized crimes that the new term "Assault Weapon" got applied to just about any para-military rifle.

 

[hso]

Assault Rifle = selective fire rifle or carbine firing intermediate or pistol cartridge (e.g. M16 or M4) instead of a battle rifle which fired a rifle cartridge (30.06 out of a Garand, 7.62 NATO out of a FAL, etc.)

Assault Weapon = semiauto rifle or carbine that happens to look kinda like a submachine gun or assault rifle firing an intermediate cartridge but the term sounds a lot scarier than just saying semiauto rifle or semiauto carbine (e.g. AR15 or M4gery) and therefore had a whole useless law ('94 AWB) built around the propaganda that somehow a semiauto rifle with a pistol grip, removable magazine and a flash hider was more dangerous than a blue and wood semiauto rifle firing the exact same round (AR15 vs Mini 14). Luckily, the law sun-setted, but the pejorative term lingers on as part of the common lexicon.

AW is a propaganda term while assault rifle is a military term.

 

[MGshaggy]

I understand that Art, but where is 'our' definition of "assault rifle" codified or defined? Surely the Sturmgewehr was partly responsible, but are we basing out objection to the media's misuse of the term "assault rifle" on the 65 year old nomenclature of a defeated military? Has the US military or US government adopted such nomenclature?

(and I do recognize and apologize for my own misuse of the term "assault weapon" in my previous post - I meant "assault rifle", which was also defined under the 1994 AWB as a "semiautomatic assault rifle".)

hso - I understand the difference; my question goes to the derivation of our use of the term. IOW, where is the definition you just cited formally codified or defined?

 

[tpaw]

When Eagles' Coach Andy Reid's son was arrested (the 1st time), they searched his home and found a .45 Automatic and some hollow point ammo.

.45 Semi-Automatic!....:banghead:

 

[Gunnerpalace]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle

Wikipedia Explains a lot more.

 

[MGshaggy]

MGshaggy- see my post.

I did. It doesn't address my question. See my post #36 for further clarification.

 

[Tommygunn]

IIRC, when the rifle first came out, it was called the AR-15.
The army adopted it as the M-16.

 

[mike101]

".45 Semi-Automatic!....:banghead:"

.45 ACP

Automatic-Colt-Pistol