# Is a semi automatic rifle an assault rifle? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 14, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375 "2016-06-14T21:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/261 "2016-06-22T20:08:14Z")
[Offered without comment.](http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027916489) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/262 "2016-06-22T20:14:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Offered without comment.](http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027916489) It was a Chevy … if it was a Ford it would have been totaled … ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/263 "2016-06-22T20:17:30Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Wow, you wallow in your ignorance and roll your eyes at me? Wow!!! > > You’re still wrong on the facts but just for argument’s sake, why are you focusing on assault weapons when it seems like you are talking about semiautomatic weapons? Its it because you are ignorant? Did you actually just use the phrase “assault weapons”? I am not a gun enthusiast. I do not own a rifle. I expect to get details wrong, so I do research. While I am far from an expert, I actually try to read up on these issues, and from more than one side, because I have to know what I’m talking about. One thing I’ve noticed lately is that the full-auto/semi-auto distinction is sometimes a red herring in public safety discussions. The real issue is how much damage a gun can do. A Glock 9mm is semi-auto, but it’s a puny little pop gun compared to an MCX. You know who I learned that from? Gun users. You are clearly trying to argue against the imagined anti-gun person who knows nothing and can’t counter your line of bull. But easily 30% of the sentences you, **Damuri Ajashi** , have posted in this thread are false, nonsense, misleading, or meaningless to any larger point. I’m no expert; I admit I am somewhat ignorant. But you’re just spouting nonsense and hoping I’m too hopelessly ignorant to be able to tell. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/264 "2016-06-22T21:04:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Offered without comment.](http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027916489) Fuck that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/265 "2016-06-22T21:16:09Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Fuck that guy. - I don’t care about facts or evidence, I just want to ban something!\* ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/266 "2016-06-22T22:06:41Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > You do realize that whenever you talk down a semi-auto rifle by claiming that there are other guns just as powerful, all you’re doing is making it clear we have to confiscate those other guns as well? And this is part of the reason why discussions on sensible gun laws rarely have productive outcomes, IMHO. Guns are a surprisingly complex subject and the more you know about them, the more complex it gets. It’s also a hard subject to explain to a layperson who has some degree of bias against them for whatever reason, because of that complexity. “Power” isn’t a clearcut concept with guns. An AR-15 fires a fairly moderate cartridge by shooting standards; bolt-action rifles chambered for the 5.56/.223 round are extraordinarily common and no-one bats an eyelid at them or calls them “powerful” or anything like that. Put that same round in a semi-automatic rifle with a detachable magazine, however, and suddenly people make it sound like it can punch through armoured vehicles or something. It doesn’t work like that. To put it another way: It’s been joked before there’s no way the average person would be allowed to own a motor car if they didn’t exist and were suddenly invented today. Letting people drive a literal tonne of metal powered by explosions from a combustible substance, at speeds of more than 100km/h, alongside thousands of other people doing the same thing, with the potential for horrible unpleasant results if anything goes awry? No way, ban them! Look, I get guns are scary to people who don’t have much to do with them. And people are allowed to be scared by them - but decision-making from fear, especially when it comes to stopping other people from enjoying their sports or hobbies - isn’t usually a great idea. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/267 "2016-06-23T00:38:34Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Offered without comment.](http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027916489) BrainGlutton, I’m giving you a warning for this. I see little substantive difference between linking to something to take a shot at someone and just taking the shot yourself. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/268 "2016-06-23T01:08:51Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Shotguns only maim, not kill, so they’re A LOT safer … Please tell me there was sarcasm in that statement. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol\_Hill\_massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_massacre) ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/269 "2016-06-23T03:37:45Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > You do realize that whenever you talk down a semi-auto rifle by claiming that there are other guns just as powerful, all you’re doing is making it clear we have to confiscate those other guns as well? (Underline added) I’m shocked. Registration followed by confiscation. Isn’t that the assumption being made by the pro-2nd supporters? And isn’t that the claim being repeatedly denied by the anti-2nd collective? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/270 "2016-06-23T03:53:26Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Uzis were scary because they’re compact, full-auto, and–honestly, kind of hard to control. (post shortened) Not all Uzis are full-auto SMGs. [http://www.uzi.com/firearms/](http://www.uzi.com/firearms/) ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/271 "2016-06-23T14:59:03Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Funny how New York City and Washington DC have incredibly tight gun control. Apparently the ruling class types think that gun control works well enough to be desirable anywhere important people concentrate. > > It’s the rest of us out in the provinces who are being suckered into trying to prepare for a possible Hollywood actioner shootout. That is one of the stupidest arguments I have heard. You think New York City and Washignton DC have strict gun control laws because the ruling class thinks that gun control works well? Are you nucking futz? You don’t think the political climate in NYC and Washington DC have anything to do with it? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/272 "2016-06-23T15:02:25Z")
> [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > I hate to break it to you, but the USA is never going to let _all_ the states of Australia in as US states. > > Hee hee… Queensland… There is always a chance they will find oil in Queensland. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/273 "2016-06-23T15:05:35Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I’m not really disagreeing with you. > > I’m willing to be precise just to avoid being accused of being ignorant. But I agree the whinging in certain quarters that it “wasn’t really an AR-15” is a bit of misdirection. It’s a gun which looks and acts like an AR-15. Different piston system, a little quieter, but to most observers they are the same thing. > > And it belongs in unsupervised, private hands on the streets of Orlando to the same degree as any other auto-loading, “one shot one kill” rifle, which in my opinion is not at all. Well its nice that you have such a strong opinion about a firearm that accounts for less than 3% of all firearm deaths in America. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/274 "2016-06-23T15:07:56Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > Please tell me there was sarcasm in that statement. > > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol\_Hill\_massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_massacre) Yes, I’m being sarcastic … the neighbor kid thought it was funny but his mom went ballistic … so we had to be 100 yds away to shoot at each other from then on. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/275 "2016-06-23T15:32:00Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Funny how New York City and Washington DC have incredibly tight gun control. Apparently the ruling class types think that gun control works well enough to be desirable anywhere important people concentrate. This argument doesn’t do your side very much good no matter how you mean it. Either you are sympathetic to the gun control legislation of the “important” people in which case you’ve missed the point of the United States. This isn’t a feudalistic society, the masses are not subjects. On the flip you might not be sympathetic to the gun control legislation coming from these places. It’s worth pointing out though that these cities are both left of center and you vote for those “important” people. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/276 "2016-06-23T17:20:40Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Offered without comment.](http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027916489) Even without your comment, you are implicitly endorsing the author’s view. The author cares more about these rare mass shootings than he does about kids accidentally shooting each other to death. So you don’t give a shit that more kids die every year from gun accidents than mass shootings just so long as we can stop the mass shootings? Gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/277 "2016-06-23T17:44:28Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Did you actually just use the phrase “assault weapons”? > > I am not a gun enthusiast. I do not own a rifle. I expect to get details wrong, so I do research. While I am far from an expert, I actually try to read up on these issues, and from more than one side, because I have to know what I’m talking about. Well, you’re doing a real bad ob of knowing what you;re talking about. > [@](#): > > One thing I’ve noticed lately is that the full-auto/semi-auto distinction is sometimes a red herring in public safety discussions. Your side brought it up in their effort to conflate assault weapons with machine guns. The pro-gun side was happy making fun of you for all the other idiocy your side presents us with. > [@](#): > > The real issue is how much damage a gun can do. A Glock 9mm is semi-auto, but it’s a puny little pop gun compared to an MCX. You know who I learned that from? Gun users. Then those same gun users should have told you that the glock 9mm (one brand of gun in one caliber) accounts for more gun murders than ALL rifles combined. They are involved in more mass shootings than any other gun. Rifles in general are more destructive than pistols, this is true whether they have bayonet lugs or are bolt action. Its simple physics. Most explosives are solids that rapidly sublimates into a gas. If the barrel is long, more of the explosive effect is transferred into the bullet, if the barrel is short then more of the explosive effect is expended into the air our of the end of the barrel (if all other things remain equal, and they rarely do). > [@](#): > > You are clearly trying to argue against the imagined anti-gun person who knows nothing and can’t counter your line of bull. But easily 30% of the sentences you, **Damuri Ajashi** , have posted in this thread are false, nonsense, misleading, or meaningless to any larger point. Imagined? AFAICT, you are a real anti-gun person who doesn’t know enough to differentiate himself from someone who is entirely ignorant. Certainly not enough to make good arguments about gun policy based on that knowledge. > [@](#): > > I’m no expert; I admit I am somewhat ignorant. But you’re just spouting nonsense and hoping I’m too hopelessly ignorant to be able to tell. You are. We were discussing assault weapons and you pointed out that assault weapons can “easily” be converted into an automatic weapon if you swapped out its guts for the guts of an automatic weapon. I pointed out that this comment was equally applicable to ALL semi-automatic weapons. If you swap out the guts of ANY semi-automatic weapon, they would become automatic weapons. Then you rolled your eyes at me for pointing out this glaring hole in your criticism of assault weapons and now pretend that you were saying “semi-automatic rifles” all along. I have not heard anyone (other than the honest anti-gun folks who support an Australia type gun ban) propose a ban on semiautomatic rifles until (like you) they are confronted with how fucking retarded an assault weapons ban is. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/278 "2016-06-23T17:46:29Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > You do realize that whenever you talk down a semi-auto rifle by claiming that there are other guns just as powerful, all you’re doing is making it clear we have to confiscate those other guns as well? You can try and the pro-gun folks are pretty sure you WILL try anyways. You act like you have some sort of control over what happens with guns in this country. The gun control side of the debate is feebly whining about their feebleness rather than making convincing arguments because what they ultimately want is not something that they could get the majority of Americans to support. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/279 "2016-06-23T17:48:58Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > Please tell me there was sarcasm in that statement. > > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol\_Hill\_massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_massacre) I thought he was pointing out that its stupid to try to ban one slim subset of weapons for their lethality when pretty much all guns are pretty lethal. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375/280 "2016-06-23T21:52:24Z")
Scott Adams of _Dilbert_ fame chimes in: [Why Gun Control can’t be solved in the USA](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/146307088451/why-gun-control-cant-be-solved-in-the-usa) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-semi-automatic-rifle-an-assault-rifle/757375.md?page=15)