A genuine assault weapon, as opposed to a legal definition, is a hand-held, selective fire weapon, which means it's capable of firing in either an automatic or a semiautomatic mode depending on the position of a selector switch. These kinds of weapons are heavily regulated by the National Firearms Act of 1934 and are further regulated in some states. (See machine guns.)
However, current "assault weapon" legislation defines certain semi-automatic weapons as "assault weapons." A semi-automatic weapon is one that fires a round with each pull of the trigger, versus an automatic weapon which continues to shoot until the trigger is released or the ammunition supply is exhausted. These kinds of "assault weapons" are sometimes referred to as military-style semi-automatic weapons.
An example of assault weapon legislation is the Federal 1994 Crime Bill. The bill in part outlaws new civilian manufacture of certain semi-automatic assault weapons. It also prohibits new civilian manufacture of "large capacity ammunition feeding devices" declared certain weapons as assault weapons, and states a semi-automatic rifle is an assault weapon if it can accept a detachable magazine and has two or more of the following:
(For the Crime Bill's definition of assault shotguns and pistols, a list of assault weapons, and further legal issues see Crime Bill FAQ.)
[The 1994 Crime Bill expired on September 13, 2004. See Semiautomatic Assault Weapon (SAW) Ban QUESTIONS & ANSWERS from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.]
Assault Weapons: The Weapons of Choice?
The following summary of police statistical surveys is excerpted from Kopel, David B, Rational Basis Analysis of "Assault Weapon" Prohibition. (Kopel's paper contains the citations for these surveys and lists a few more studies as well.)
Gary Kleck, in Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control(Walter de Gruyter, Inc., New York 1997), summarizes the findings of forty-seven such studies, indicating that less than 2% of crime guns were assault weapons (the median was about 1.8%). According to Bureau of Justice Statistics, (Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1993, May 1996) offenders were armed with a firearm in 10% of all violent crimes. That would mean less than .20% (one-fifth of one percent or 1 in 500) of violent crime offenders used an assault weapon (1.8% X 10% = .18%).
The Police and Assault Weapons
According to Roth and Koper (Roth), (Impact Evaluation of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994, May 1996), "assault weapons are estimated to be involved in 1 to 7 percent of gun homicides". Their study further reports, "In sum, police officers are rarely murdered with assault weapons. Yet the fraction of police gun murders perpetrated with assault weapons is higher than that for civilian gun murders. Assault weapons accounted for about 10% of police gun murders from 1992 through May of 1996 when considering only those cases for which the gun make could be ascertained."
(From 1982 to 1993, of the 687 officers who were killed by firearms other than their own guns, more were killed by .38 caliber revolvers than by any other firearm. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Guns Used in Crime, July 1995, p. 5. [PDF])
The police view of assault weapons.
Assault Weapons and Mass Shootings
In "Appendix A" Roth et. al found, "contrary to our expectations, only 2 -- 3.8 percent - of the 52 mass murders we gleaned from the Nexis search [from Jan. 1992 through May 1996] unambiguously involved assault weapons. This is about the same percentage as for other murders... media accounts lend some tenuous support to the notion that assault weapons are more deadly than other weapons in mass murder events, as measured by victims per incident. However in Footnote 61 Roth states: "If, for instance, the substituted long guns were .22 caliber, rimfire (i.e., low velocity) rifles (and in addition did not accept large-capacity magazines), then a substitution effect [as a result of the assault weapons ban] would be less likely to have demonstrably negative consequences. If, on the other hand, offenders substituted shotguns for assault weapons, there could be negative consequences for gun violence mortality. "
Gary Kleck in Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control(Walter de Gruyter, Inc., New York, 1997) after examining the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports for the years 1976 to 1992, reports "the rate of killings with four or more victims was higher in 1976-1982, prior to the popularity of assault weapons, than in 1983-1992. Regardless of the numerical cutoff defining mass shootings, there was no increase in such incidents associated with the increased popularity of assault weapons after 1984".
Dr. Kleck also states that "Oddly enough, mass killings are actually less likely to involve the use of guns of any kind than homicides involving small numbers of victims. For all murders and non negligent manslaughters covered in Supplementary Homicide Reports (about 90% of all U.S. killings) for the period 1976 to 1992, only 48.3% of victims killed in incidents with four or more victims were killed with guns, compared to 62.3% of those killed in incidents with three or fewer victims. This is mainly due to the large share of mass killings committed with arson, which is rarely involved in ordinary homicides."
Incidentally, there are an estimated 4 million assault rifles in the U.S., which amounts to roughly 1.7% of the total gun stock. (Institute for Research on Small Arms in International Security, Assault Rifle Fact Sheet #2, 1989)
Assault Weapons Easily Converted to Full-auto?
Not according to LAPD Detective Jimmy Trahin, testifying before the California State Assembly (Feb. 13,1989):... over 4,000 guns that came into the custody of our unit last year, less than 120 would be classified as this military-type weapon. Of those, only ten or less than ten were actually illegally converted to fully-automatic machine gun stocks. Why? Because these military style assault weapons of today are not easily and readily convertible without extensive knowledge of modifications to the weapon and/or substitution of available parts. (source)
These miliatry style assault weapons of today are not easily and readily convertible without extensive knowledge and modifications to the weapon and/or substitution of available parts.
Now, in my 12 years within the unit, considering the enormous amount of firearms that we have taken into custody, and that's over fifty-thousand, I would say, and these inlcuded ones from the hardcore gangs, and from the drug dealers, our unit has never, ever, had one AK-47 converted, one Ruger Mini-14 converted, an H&K 91, 93 never converted, an AR-180 never converted. So this media blitz of many of these assault weapons, or supposedly military style weapons are being converted to full automatic is not true. (source) (additional source)
For Further Reading
Kopel, David B., Rational Basis Analysis of "Assault Weapon" Prohibition, 20 J. of Contemp. L. 381-417.(1994)
_____, The Assault Weapon Panic (242K), Independence Issue Paper No. 12-91, Independence Institute.
_____, Assault Ban Chicanery, originally printed in the Washington Times, May 5, 1994, Thursday, p. A18.
_____, Are so-called "Assault Weapons" a Threat to Police Officers?, originally printed in the Sept./Oct. 1997 of The Law Enforcement Trainer, the official publication of the American Society for Law Enforcement Training.
Tonso, William R., Shooting Blind, Reason, June, 2000.
For Viewing
"The Truth About Semi-Auto Firearms."
An AK-47 is a gun which is a selective fire, gas operated 7.62mm assault rifle developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the 1940s. The AK stands for втомат Калашникова 47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova 47) - Kalashnikov automatic rifle, model of 1947.The AK-47 was one of the first true assault rifles and, due to its durability, low production cost and ease of use, the weapon and its numerous variants remain the most widely used assault rifles in the world --- so much so that more AK-type rifles have been produced than all other assault rifles combined.
"E" felony crimes are considered to be the the lowest category of all felonies. They are less severe crimes likte aggravated harassment or aggravated assault. They are not as bad as "A" felony crimes such as :First degree murder, which is harder to fight in court. There have been instances where "E" felony crimes have been reduced to misdemeanors. It has happened. Good luck.
Chopper Reid has been convicted of the crimes of armed robbery, assault, arson, illegal possession of firearms, and kidnapping. While he was imprisoned for those crimes he started a jail war and caused major disturbances where he was being incarcerated .
Muzzle loading rifles with the capability of 3 to 4 shots a minute have been replaced with full automatic assault rifles with the capability of over 750 shots a minute. There are many other changes.
The short answer is that it can't.Firstly there are no "assault weapons", it is an invented term created by gun-control activists to sound scary. There is no company, organization, military, or police force in the world that recognizes any type of firearm as an "assault weapon"."Assault Rifles" do exist and are a very specific category of firearm that in any case are virtually impossible for a citizen to obtain ownership of due to expense and regulation. The number of firearms in this category used in criminal offensives is too small to even be called negligible.Firearms that were branded with the fictional "Assault Weapon" term meanwhile were likewise used in a statistically irrelevant number of crimes in any measured year. Handguns by far are the firearm most commonly employed in crimes, none of which fit the criteria.
many have been known to use assault rifles such as: m16, ak-47, and the m8. their secondary weapons can be pistols, shotguns and submachine guns.
He has been arrested a few times but he doesn't have any crimes to his name.
The M4 isn't perfect, but it works. The Norwegians have been using the HK416. The British seem to have better luck with the L85A2 than they did with previous versions. There are situations, however, where it might be advantageous to have a full power battle rifle - such as the M14, FN FAL, or G3 - than an assault rifle, and there have been instances both in Afghanistan and Iraq where the enemy would opt to use older bolt action rifles, such as the Mauser, Mosin Nagant, or Enfield, because of the better performance of those rifles at range. However, the AKM and variants are still the most commonly used rifles by the Taliban, and most firefights occur well within range of those and other assault rifles.
To solve crimes that have been done in the past.
An ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Sight) is commonly equipped with machine guns and assault rifles. Though ACOGs were originally used for the M16 they have been designed for other guns as well.HOPE IT HELPED
what is the sentence for attempted murder, attempted sexual assault and terroristic threats? i am a victim of such crimes and there has not yet been a court date set yet because it just occurred the beginning of june...
Israel has been neither tried nor formally so charged before any world judicial body.