Here's a gun question:

[Matrosov]

103. The Germans, as has been pointed out

Their definition of an assault rifle has been widely accepted since the 1940s.

Nobody called an AR15 an assault rifle in, say, the 1970s.

The term started being used for *some* semi-automatic rifles in the 1990s, when people began using 'assault rifle' and 'assault weapon' interchangeably. 'Assault weapon' was a newly-invented political term based on the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban.

In my opinion, the 1994 AWB was hugely counterproductive, because it's definition of an assault weapon was based on cosmetic features that could be changed easily, it downplayed the danger of other semi-automatic rifles that are just as effective as AR15s but don't look as 'scary,' and it has given people the false belief that reinstating the AWB would make assault rifles/assault weapons/AR15s disappear.

The only way to get rid of AR15s is to ban *all* semi-automatic rifles and to not grandfather in rifles that are already in civilian hands.