Even BATF Says ‘Assault Weapons’ is a Fake Term
Russ Chastain 11.26.18
A link to an Outdoor Life article recently found its way across my Facebook feed, and although it’s a bit of an oldie (Feb 2017), its content bears repeating… especially as the politicos of both Red and Blue varieties continue to steal away our firearms rights. The gist of it is the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (BATF)’s admission that “assault weapon” is a manufactured term designed to scare the public — something most gun owners have known all along.
A Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ‘white paper’ [authored by ATF second-in-command Ronald Turk] correctly identifies ‘assault weapons’ as a politically contrived term with no real meaning and recommends dramatic federal law revisions in how they are regulated.
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Turk’s ‘white paper’ says the agency is interested in reforms that ‘promote commerce and defend the Second Amendment without significant negative impact on ATF’s mission to fight violent firearms crime and regulate the firearms industry.’Turk wrote that the misleading ‘assault weapons’ term to describe AK-and-AR-style rifles should be replaced with a ‘modern sporting rifles,’ to reflect how the use and popularity of these firearms has grown. In fact, he noted, their use in ‘sport shooting’ has grown ‘exponentially’ and such guns ‘are now standard for hunting activities.’
The ATF official also argued in favor of changes in policy for the import of WWII-era military weapons, such as M1 Garand rifles.
As I said, this isn’t earth-shattering news, except that it’s nice to see someone in government making sense. When even BATF says “assault weapons” is a phony label, any thinking person should sit up and take notice. Sadly, that omits many anti-gunners and most elected officials, both Republicans and Democrats.
