Commander wrote: Well, in todays DMN, there is a letter that refers back to my letter of last week:
Assault label is arbitrary
Re: "Use those guns in the military" by Sandy Elkins and "An Assault Weapon, defined" by Phillip Herbst
I was glad to see the comments from Mr. Herbst in the same column as those from Ms. Elkins. Most people don't understand that an assault rifle, by the government's definition, is anything that doesn't have to be manually cocked each time you fire a shot. What needs to be governed is the selector switch that changes a rifle or gun from semi-automatic to fully automatic. Military weapons and ammunition are some of the most accurate that can be bought.
Art Haynes, Gun Barrel City
At the risk of sounding dumb - Help me understand his comment about the selector switch. I was unaware that rifles with such switches were available for purchase. Does this guy know what he is talking about? Or is he referring to some after market modification of the gun?
The short answer is NO, the guy doesn't know what he is talking about. The definition of "Assault Rifle" is not based on whether or not the firearm is "manually cocked". If it were...then every semi-automatic rifle (think Ruger 10/22 etc) would be considered an Assault Rifle.
Also, the "selector switch" he suggests be "governed" is NOT a stand alone item that allows a semi-automatic weapon to become "full auto". Most rifles would require fairly extensive modifications to be converted to full-auto (Safe, Full) and even more to be "select fire" (Safe, Semi, Full).