Washington Does Seattle Editorial Illustrate Disconnect Between Press, Reality?

[Pete F]

Where is that definition found, and which branch of the military defined it?

The Germans first defined assault rifle/weapon during WWII. I am sorry that I can not give any proof or place to verify it, but I read it in a WWII historical weapons book. It should be fairly easy enough to verify with some patience. The US may have picked it up from them, but I don't think that any branch of the US military actually uses it today.

Edit - sorry a little late.

 

[Ura-Ki]

The U.S. Army defines assault rifles as "short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges."[16] In this strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle:[2][3][4]

• It must be capable of selective fire.
• It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle, such as the 7.92×33mm Kurz, the 7.62x39mm and the 5.56x45mm NATO.
• Its ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine.[5]
• It must have an effective range of at least 300 metres (330 yards).

Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are technically not assault rifles.

For example:

• Select-fire M2 Carbines are not assault rifles; their effective range is only 180 metres (200 yd).[17]
• Select-fire rifles such as the FN FAL battle rifle are not assault rifles; they fire full-powered rifle cartridges.
• Semi-automatic-only rifles like the Colt AR-15 are not assault rifles; they do not have select-fire capabilities.
• Semi-automatic-only rifles with fixed magazines like the SKS are not assault rifles; they do not have detachable box magazines and are not capable of automatic fire.

Swiped from Wiki!