Over the past three decades, the idea of banning “assault weapons” has gained traction not because this policy has significant potential to save lives, but because proponents promise that such a ban will save lives without infringing on the rights of hunters or those who keep handguns for home defense. Alas, this promise is based on misconceptions and wishful thinking.
Although “assault weapons” are frequently referred to as “weapons of war,” the reality is that the military assault rifles (a term not synonymous with “assault weapon”) found on the battlefields of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine are not available in American sporting goods stores. Military assault rifles are machine guns capable of fully automatic fire. That means that as long as you hold down the trigger, they will continue to fire bullet after bullet — at a rate of 10 to 15 bullets per second — until you release the trigger or run out of ammunition.
Civilian “assault weapons,” on the other hand, are semi-automatic only, meaning they fire just one bullet each time you pull the trigger, resulting in a maximum rate of fire of approximately two rounds per second. In America, this distinction between fully automatic and semi-automatic is what has separated military and civilian firearms since the passage of the National Firearms Act of 1934. The ability to switch between semi-automatic and fully automatic modes is what has defined military assault rifles since Germany unveiled the first one during World War II.
