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The intent of my letter was to inform as the DMN article went on and on about "Assault Weapons" but made no effort to explain what that term meant (in the eyes of the media, the AWB and general public). I agree that sometimes we fall into our own trap about sport rifles and reading back to the text of my original letter, I could have and should have made a better effort to use better terminology. My point was that the AWB was singling out rifles based on their appearance rather than their function.

Here is the text of my letter as published in the DMN on 11/23/2008:

An Assault weapon, defined

Most readers would be surprised to learn that an "assault weapon" is determined merely by cosmetic features, such as a folding stock or pistol grip, and not how it actually functions or its caliber.

The misconception is that an assault weapon is an automatic weapon - meaning that one press of the trigger results in the gun firing until the trigger is released. This is not true. The guns covered by the old Clinton ban were semi-automatic - one press of the trigger fires one round and one round only. Between trigger presses, the gun loads a new round.

Many of the most popular target and hunting rifles could be interpreted simply by looks to be an assault weapon and subject to being banned.

Thanks for the quick reply....I wasn't clear on my question....I knew that it was possible (with enough funds) to buy and own fully automatic guns. What I thought the guy was talking about was some switch on your everyday AR-15 type rifle. (ie. "Assault Weapon")

About a week ago, the Dallas Morning News had an article about the run on "assault weapons". No where in the article was it defined what exactly an assault weapon was. So I wrote a letter to the editor and was surprised that it was published last Sunday as I received no notice from DMN that it would be. I basically stated that most people assume that an assault weapon is fully automatic and defined what fully automatic was versus semi-automatic. I also mentioned that in a lot of cases what determines what is an "assault weapon" was cosmetic features such as a folding stock or a pistol grip and not how it functions (ie automatic) or its caliber.

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?