Originally posted by MJZoo
There has been no shortage of either of those two terms being smeared across the news and even being thrown around on ATS. So with so much talk about an assault rifle ban I'd like people to comment, respectfully, what they use for a criteria in determining what these terms mean. Is it the caliber of the gun, the size of the clip, the way a gun looks? I want to keep this away from a "ban guns" or "give everyone guns" debate (I know I'm asking a lot). I hope this may turn in to educational thread because many people may not know what terms like semi-automatic mean.
In MY own opinion, an assault rifle would be a rifle that produces more than one round to be fired with one pull of the trigger. I personally don't think the appearance of a gun or the amount of rounds it holds has anything to do with it. Also, there are MANY calibers of bullet that are far more devastating than the .223 round that has been used in recent tragedies.
You described a fully automatic.
"Assault rifle" is (essentially) a semi-auto (1 pull of the trigger equals 1 bullet- No need to "cock" or prime the weapon but one time and as fast as your finger goes is as many bullets as fire) that has a removable clip.
-That really is about the gist of it without giving a Webster Dictionary definition.




