Two things:
I thought, historically, the term “assault rifle” was a correct term to distinguish from the prior generation of “battle rifles”. I thought battle rifles like the M1 and M1A were generally longer, heavier and more powerful, and they still actively fill a tactical niche today. Weren't assault rifles designed to keep up with the (Commie) Jones’s AK-47 and provide a lighter, shorter, lower-power select-fire rifle for up-close skirmishes and assaults? I can’t provide a citation right now but thought I’d seen that on History Channel, etc. I might certainly be wrong, and please correct me if I am.
The main point is: yeah, the anti-gun folks commandeered and misconstrued the term when applied to semi-auto-only rifles and, frankly speaking, did so rather effectively. The NRA is better at marketing and branding than the Brady Bunch 99% of the time, but the BB beat the NRA to the punch in attaching the moniker assault rifle to civilian, non-select-fire rifles. I’m afraid talking ‘till one is blue in the face about the historical inaccuracy of the term “assault weapons” as pertains to civilian guns is a fruitless endeavor. It's a fine academic discussion but, politically speaking, that ship has sailed.
There’s an old politics quote attributed to Ronald Reagan… “If you’re explaining, you’re losing”.
To that end, here's my second point… Is it just me, or are gun-rights groups missing out on an excellent opportunity to commandeer the (accurate) term "Personal Defense Weapon"? As posted here earlier, a federal contract request recently used the term PDW. Now I don’t want to turn this into a discussion about whether select-fire rifles are needed for immigration raids, drug and other customs busts, busting up trafficking-in-persons smuggling rings, or anything else that might result in a firefight. I am simply intrigued by the PDW term.
I actually think it’s a very accurate term, and gun rights groups have been handed a public image “branding” gift on a silver platter here. PDW actually describes the attributes of AR-style rifles (select-fire or semi-auto only) appropriately; they are optimally suited for personal defense. The fact that this is an officially-endorsed term adds to the credibility and bona fides of the PDW term. If PDWs are suitable to provide “personal defense” to law enforcement from the baddies of the world, they are suitable to protect the rest of us from the baddies, too.
