9781422273494

assault weapon and an assault rifle . Different cities and states have enacted different definitions of assault weapons, with standards and restrictions that vary considerably. In the state of Hawaii, a pistol that is 12 inches in length and can hold a silencer qualifies as an assault weapon, even if that pistol must be reloaded after each fired shot. By contrast, the state of Texas has no laws restricting assault weapons, and its state preemption laws mean that no individual city can outlaw assault weapons, even if its citizenry choose to do so. What’s more, some states have no restrictions on the purchase of assault weapons other than the standard federal requirement that the purchaser fill out Form 4473, which simply states that the person is not a convicted felon and has no history of mental illness. These states do not even require identification to purchase an assault weapon. In general, an assault weapon is usually defined as any weapon that is semiautomatic, meaning that it does not require manual reloading of each shot. A simple bolt-action rifle requires the shooter to open the action of the gun, expel the spent shot, and insert a new bullet each time. By contrast, an AR-15 rifle, based on the design of the military-grade M-16 and legal for civilians to purchase, earns the title of assault rifle because the shooter does not need to reload manually after each shot. Most civilian-owned assault weapons are based on military models. The difference between a military-style assault weapon and a civilian-legal assault weapon can be significant, however. It is not legal in the United States for any civilian to own a grenade launcher, for example, nor are all telescopic sights legal. In most cases, however, the sole difference between a military-grade and a civilian- legal assault weapon is the difference between the firing mechanisms: no military-grade automatic weapons are legal for civilians to own, but semiautomatic weapons are.

Assault Weapons

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