Assault weapons question

Victoria Marone’s impression that “there is no such thing” as an assault weapon would come as a surprise to the United States Army (“Supplying the missing facts,” April 1).

According to Military-Today .com, the AR15 “was created by Armalite to meet the U.S. Army requirement for a new assault rifle.” An assault weapon is one designed specifically for anti-personnel use at relatively short ranges (as opposed to use in hunting or target shooting), with a high rate of fire and a highcapacity magazine, as well as certain cosmetic features (e.g., pistol grip and flash suppressor) that are incidental in non-combat settings. While the AR15 sold for civilian use is semi-automatic rather than fully automatic, the Las Vegas massmurder showed that a bump-stock can make even the civilian version a de facto automatic weapon.

Prohibition of devices that increase rate of fire beyond a standard trigger-pull sequence of magazines with a capacity exceeding eight rounds, and of ammunition that fragments or expands upon penetration combined with mandatory background checks for all commercial sales of firearms (including those at gun shows by sellers who aren’t federally licensed dealers), would not as a practical matter impair use of firearms for hunting, target shooting, self-defense or any other legitimate civilian purpose.

Such measures wouldn’t prevent all school shootings or all mass murders. Given the minimal burden they would represent, however, if they would prevent a single one they would be more than worthwhile.

Michael Bowen Fox Point