Honestly to not call an ar15 an assault rifle is like not calling a Lamborghini an exotic car... as long as the Lamborghini has less the 500 horse....NASCAR cars are still race cars even after they put restrictor plates on them....
That definition says "has capacity to switch". I'd say the rifles do have the capacity. With modification you can make it work. It doesn't say "capacity in its PRESENT form". For example.... Remington 700 will NEVER have capacity to become full auto or even burst fire. So its not remotely an assault rifle.
99.9% of my Ar is the same as my issued rifle in the military rifle (i would say due to my 400 geissele trigger my personal rifle is much better). So of my rifle is designed to be deployed by soldiers then its an assault rifle.
The debate shouldn't be what to call it... debate should be that we can KEEP it. IMHO to try and fight the name it almost seems dishonest.
Let the screaming begin....
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This poster's ideas are logically fallacious. He is making an identity (same thing) out of a similarity (similar thing).
He is saying that because it
can be changed (switched out), it
is changed and is thus the same thing.
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It helps to know the history of military rifles. And, a little about military operations.
Think back to 1903. Rifles were made for battlefield distances out to 1000-1200 y
ards. Think, battlefield distances of WWI. Think, the Springfield 1903, shortly after chambered in 30-.06, and the German K98 Mauser (7mm?). These were called
battle rifles. They were bolt-action, and fired a cartridge effective out to 1000-1200 yards, meaning they could put a man out of the fight at that distance.
Then came the Sturmgewher in 1944, the first assault rifle. German engineers realized it would be very handy to have a weapon that bridged the gap between a battle rifle and a sub-machine gun (pistol ammo). It could fire full-auto, but it also fired a bullet at higher pressures than a pistol, thus it was effective at distances a sub-machine gun (pistol ammo) could only dream of.
Now, pay close attention. There are different phases of military operations. One is referred to as
attack. Attack in military parlance means something different from what everyday useage might imply. It does
not mean the indian attack on the blue-coat fort. In military parlance,
attack means the movement towards the enemy. For example, the general discovers the enemy divisions are forty mile away. And, he immediately starts moving his troops by truck and foot towards the enemy for an engagement. That movement towards the enemy--that phase of military operations--is called the
attack. Doesn't matter whether its US armor moving sixty miles across Iraqi desert in order to engage Iraqi units, or one mile. The troops moving toward the enemy in order to engage them is
attack.
Assault is the final phase. The attack brought everybody within, say, the last 100 yards of the enemy. Everybody is in position. Everybody stands up as one, and makes the final aggressive movement towards
and through the objective. This is the
assault phase.
Now, remember when I mentioned sub-machine guns (pistol ammo)? This where the distinction starts to come into play. Imagine a guy with a bolt-action battle rifle assaulting an enemy line or room-to-room inside a farm house. The time is compressed. He may dispatch one enemy, and another pop up before he has time to work the bolt, thus the bayonet. A sub-machine gun is very handy in this phase. Spray the trench. Spray the room. Hit that guy with a quick burst; and, when the next one comes around the corner in less time than you could have worked the bolt on a battle rifle, give him a quick burst, too. So, you see how the sub-machine gun (full-auto, but pistol ammo) is a benefit over a battle rifle during the assault phase?
But, what about when you're trying to assault a farmhouse with fifty or a hundred yards between you and them? You're at the outer limit of sub-machine gun (pistol ammo) effectiveness. And, sub-machine guns aren't exactly shoulder weapons you can sight with fine precision. "Oh, lemme get my battle rifle for this distance; then, when I get inside the farmhouse, I'll pull out my sub-machine gun." Suuuuuuuure.
Thus, the assault rifle was invented. It is effective as a single-shot at longer possible
assault distances and can switch to full-auto at the up-close-and-personal
assault distances.
Thus, the term
assault rifle. It is most definitely a military weapon. And, it most definitely is capable of full-auto. If a rifle only fires semi-auto, it is no different from an M1 Garand (battle rifle), during the
assault phase.