So, how many "assault weapons" are out there?

Well it depends Did it have 2 or more of the following features?

• Did it have a timber shroud to prevent splinters?
• Did you carve a pistol grip into it?
• Could you attach a bayonet to the front?
• Was it capable of launching or firing 2x2 grenades?
• Was it capable of folding (maybe an illegally installed hinge)?
• Was it equipped with a sawdust suppressor or did it have a threaded end to accommodate one?

 

Depends on your definition of "assault weapons".

It's a trivial name, so it varies.

 

AW #

Sorry But if I told you Id have to kill you! LOL

 

I don't think even the DOD used the term "assault weapon".

Maybe at one time the term "assault rifle" informally to describe a class of weapons that acted as a bridge between semi-auto rifles and machineguns.

Today with all rifles being select-fire the term doesn't even have any meaning. However "assault weapons" are not even select fire they are semi-auto. The DOD would never have used "assault rifles" to describe a semi-auto rifle as semi-auto rifles had been around for 60 years.

"Assault weapon" was coined by the Brady campaign as part of the Federal AWB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban

The whole point was to mislead and scare people.

Ask 100 people the two questions
"Are you in favor of banning semi-auto hunting rifles?"
and
"Are you in favor of banning ASSAULT rifles?"

Which do you think has more support?

 

How about an assault hammer, or "nailgun":

 

Assault rifle is a formal, well defined, military term. Assault weapon is different, fairly open ended term, that includes more than rifles, and is pretty much defined by the antis.

FWIW jlbraun clearly defined what he meant by assault weapon in the original post.

Sorry, I can't think of a better way to count them than through manufacturing figures.

When California passed its original AW ban in 1989 they estimated there were 300,000 estimated firearms covered. When NJ passed its version a couple of years, they estimated there were 300,000 firearms covered, despite the major population differences.

What I got out of that was that no-one really knows how many "assault weapons" are out there.

 

My wifes 10/22 ruger was refered to as an assault weapon by a neighbor, they were miss informed (Lied to). We explained the differances of so called assault weapons, and they are not so nervous about us and all our assault weapons. Don't tell them everything though.