First: AR does NOT stand for “Assault Rifle”
Misinformation. It’s everywhere. It is even more pervasive – and dangerous – when people who don’t understand what they are talking about try to teach other people what it is they don’t know themselves. Case in point: the assault rifle. Everytime there is a tragic murder involving firearms reporters, politicians and even celebrities feel the need to share their opinions about guns. More often than not, these talking heads know nothing about the subject other than that a gun shoots bullets and that they can be deadly. What’s worse is that average Joes and Janes believe the misinformation and take it as fact, when in truth it’s not even close to being accurate.
First: AR does NOT stand for “Assault Rifle”
The “AR” in AR-15 is assumed to mean “assault rifle”. It does not. Period. Just because Piers Morgan or Oprah said that’s what it stands for it doesn’t mean that they are right. The “AR” comes from the firearms manufacturer Armalite. Those letters are used as a standard naming practice for their firearms. Just like the Ford F-150, the AR-15 is a specific model. While I’m not positive that the “F” stands for Ford (but it seems logical), I do know that the AR means nothing more than that it is a firearm model identifier. Just like there’s an F-250 and an F-350, there’s also an AR-10 and an AR-30. So, let’s stop referring to an AR-15 an “assault rifle”. It is not an assault rifle.
Second: What is an Assault Rifle?
Now, that’s a smart question. An assault rifle is a rifle that:
- has selectable firing modes
- can fire in fully automatic mode
Select fire means that there is a switch to toggle between firing modes. One firing mode is called “semiautomatic”. Semiautomatic means that when the trigger is pulled, the following happens:
By G. Miles
