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43 S. Ill. U. L.J. 193 (2018-2019)
Assault Weapon Myths

handle is hein.journals/siulj43 and id is 201 raw text is: ASSAULT WEAPON MYTHS E. Gregory Wallace* Scary black rifles that spray bullets like machine guns. Military arms designed solely for killing on the battlefield. Weapons of choice for mass shooters. These are common descriptions of so-called assault weapons, a favorite target for those who want to eliminate gun violence by eliminating guns. Several states and localities currently ban assault weapons, as did the federal government from 1994-2004. In response to recent mass shootings, bills have been introduced in Congress to create a new national ban. Lawmakers and judges often use these descriptions to justify such bans. But are the descriptions factual? If not, what does that say about the laws and court decisions that rely on them? While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of assault weapon, laws banning such weapons typically criminalize possession or transfer of semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines and at least one specified feature such as a pistol grip, telescoping stock, flash suppressor, barrel shroud, bayonet mount, or grenade launcher.' Other assault weapon bans prohibit certain semiautomatic rifles, shotguns, and pistols by name and by features, along with any copies, duplicates, or variants.2 The main target of these bans is the AR-15 rifle, the most popular rifle in America, owned by millions for lawful purposes including self-defense.3 The AR-15 looks like a fully automatic military M4 carbine or M16 rifle, but it has a semiautomatic firing system like most modem handguns. Legislatures imposing assault Professor of Law, Campbell University School of Law. Professor Wallace is a competitive shooter and certified firearms instructor. See, e.g., D.C. CODE § 7-2501.01(3A)(A) (2018) (defining assault weapons under D.C. code); N.Y. PENAL LAW § 265.00(22) (2018) (defining assault weapons under N.Y. law). 2 See, e.g., CONN. GEN. STAT. § 53-202a (2013); MD. CODE ANN., CRIM. LAW § 4-301(d) (LexisNexis 2018) (banning specific assault long guns listed under MD. CODE ANN., PUB. SAFETY § 5-10(r)(2) (LexisNexis 2018) and copycat weapons as defined by certain features listed in the code). The scope of this article is limited to semiautomatic rifles and does not include semiautomatic pistols and shotguns included in most assault weapons bans. See Jon Schuppe, America's rifle: Why so many people love the AR-15, NBC NEWS (Dec. 27, 2017, 1:19 PM), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/america-s-rifle-why-so-many-people-love-ar- 15-n831171?cid=public-rss_20171228 (noting that that Americans own an estimated 15 million AR-15s and that the AR-15 remains a jewel of the gun industry, the country's most popular rifle, irreversibly lodged into American culture); 'AR' Stands for Armalite, NATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS FOUND., https://www.nssforg/ar-stands-for-armalite/ (last visited July 3, 2018) (noting that the AR does not stand for assault rifle but rather for ArmaLite, the company that developed the prototype rifle that later became the military M16 and the civilian AR-15). This article uses AR-15 as a shorthand term for all AR-15 variants. 193

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