Over the last several weeks, hundreds of stories have appeared nationwide about increasing firearm sales due to gun owners' concerns that President-elect Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress will pass legislation limiting the Second Amendment rights of Americans.

Firearms retailers report that many firearm customers are interested in buying semi-automatic rifles that have a military look to them. There is much confusion among the public and the media about how these rifles function and about their legitimate uses for target shooting and hunting. Often incorrectly referred to as semi-automatic "assault weapons," they are the type of firearms that President-elect Obama has indicated he would seek to ban by making permanent the expired 1994 so-called "assault weapons" ban.

Few media stories have explained the difference between true fully automatic military assault rifles and the politically labeled, so-called "assault rifle."