Well over a century ago, the rifle an infantryman carried into battle had already been developed to a phenomenal state of lethality. It was capable of inflicting a horrendous wound at enormous distances, indeed, the rifle could shoot straighter than all but the most skilled marksmen. It was a weapon perfectly suited to the trench warfare of the Great War, where high ammunition capacity and rapid reloading on a weapon meant to be used carefully and deliberately was not a requirement. Its long barrel made it an effective implement to be equipped with a long bayonet–generals were still thinking in terms of medieval pikemen engaging in desperate hand-to-hand combat with empty rifles.
There were disadvantages to this weapon, though. It was large and heavy, and the precision forging required to give it these properties made it expensive to produce, and required much training in those who used it. The ammunition was very powerful, therefore large and heavy, forcing soldiers to carry fewer rounds, and requiring military doctrine to emphasize “fire discipline”, that is, “Don’t waste ammunition, aim carefully and make every shot count”.
In the final days of the Second World War, the fighting in the Russian forests and close urban combat on the Eastern Front changed everything. Infantry was now engaging its opponents at short distances, and few soldiers found themselves taking slow and careful aim at targets hundreds of yards away. Very often, you couldn’t even see your enemy at all, even though he might be just across the street from you. The concept of “suppressing fire” was introduced into small unit tactics, that is, you don’t just aim at your enemy, you spray lots of bullets in his general direction to force him to keep his head down and not aim at you. Soldiers demanded a smaller, lighter weapon with smaller, lighter bullets so that more ammunition could be carried into the field. Troops also demanded the ability to direct fully automatic fire at the enemy. The machine pistol (“submachine gun” in US parlance) was fine for killing a man close-up in an enclosed space, but its pistol cartridge was not really effective for delivering suppressing fire at longer distances. What was needed was an infantry rifle with a smaller, lighter cartridge, but still more powerful than a service pistol round, that was usable at intermediate range. This new cartridge made rapid fire and full auto fire ergonomically much easier and more controllable. The new weapon needed to be easy to carry and maneuver in tight quarters while running and crouching behind cover. It had to allow the carrying of large quantities of ammunition and the ability to be fitted with high-capacity, quickly replaceable magazines and have a selector switch capable of automatic fire on demand.
From the point of view of logistics, the adding of a whole new category of ammunition (other than pistol and rifle) was partially compensated for by the ability to make a cheaper (stamped vs forged) rifle that required less training in those who used it. High precision, power and consistency were not as much an issue here. Besides, in urban combat, or in the bush, equipment was less likely to survive. The assault rifle, like the man who carried it, was expendable, with a low life expectancy. There was no point in lavishing a lot of resources on it.
Like so many other Nazi wonder weapons, the German assault rifle was too little and too late in WWII to affect the outcome, but the armies who faced it and its popularity among the troops that used it had a profound effect on military doctrine. The result was the USSR’s AK-47 and its American counterpart, the M-16.
By removing the selector switch to allow sales of a semi-auto version to civilians, the new “assault rifle” became a hot consumer item, giving every suburban warrior wannabee the opportunity to carry a military grade weapon at a bargain price. The assault rifle can be used for target practice, competition shooting, hunting, or even home defense, but it is certainly not optimized for those uses. It is designed primarily to give the man who carries it a fighting chance against another man carrying one just like it. For the civilian user, it is an opportunity to indulge once again his childhood fantasy of playing soldier.
People who own these weapons for alleged “sport” or “recreation” know this perfectly well, of course, but don’t tell that to critics who question the wisdom of civilians carrying this kind of inappropriate firearm. They rely on those who argue against civilian use of military weapons to be merely cowards, appeasers or ignorant of firearms and their history or use–therefore their opinions don’t matter. As for justifying the use of these weapons for themselves, the assault rifle owner flatters himself by claiming the role of defender of the nation against enemy invasion, rioting urban mobs or the storm troopers of a tyrannical government (anybody he disagrees with)–the Minuteman Fantasy. When all else fails, the assault rifle apologist can simply rely on the Dictionary Dodge, that old standby of the Conservative who can’t defend his position so he asserts his opponent is using imprecise terminology. He can simply claim these are not REAL assault rifles because they lack the full auto selector switch, or are chambered for a hunting caliber, so they are just like any other gun.
They are not. You don’t need a gun to kill people, and you don’t need an assault rifle to do another gun’s job. It may have not been designed as a weapon to gun down large numbers of unarmed civilians in public places as effortlessly and in as short a time as possible. But it is nonetheless ideally configured for that purpose, and very attractive to frivolous, violent and unbalanced persons, which is why the most horrendous cases of gun violence seem to feature this kind of firearm. Gun fanciers are very careful to select guns strictly optimal to a specific application. If you are really serious about hunting, competition shooting, or home defense this is not the weapon or munitions a true gun expert would choose.
Regardless of what you decide to call it, the cheap, high capacity, semi- or full-auto, replaceable magazine-fed rifle chambered for military loads should be banned immediately. This gun is for killing lots of people in a hurry. It ain’t no damn good for nothing else.