AP Stylebook tones down the term, "Assault Rifle"

[GWS]

From 2AF

After years of incorporating the terms "assault rifle" and "assault weapons" into news reports involving firearms, especially when used in crimes, journalists are now advised by the Associated Press to avoid the "highly politicized terms," and the Second Amendment Foundation says it's a "smart gun change." "It's about time the media realized the terms 'assault rifle' and 'assault weapon' are inflammatory and meaningless," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "Those terms have become part of the gun prohibition lobby's lexicon, and unfortunately, journalists across the country have been all-too-willing to adopt their vocabulary and repeatedly use it in their reports. "I'm glad to see the AP Stylebook now recognizes that these firearms only fire one round each time a trigger is pulled," he continued, "and really function no differently than any other semi-auto rifle, pistol or shotgun, all of which have been in common use in this country for more than a century." According to an AP Style Tip, "The preferred term for a rifle that fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled, and automatically reloads for a subsequent shot, is a semi-automatic rifle. An automatic rifle continuously fires rounds if the trigger is depressed and until its ammunition is exhausted. "Avoid assault rifle and assault weapon," the AP adds, "which are highly politicized terms that generally refer to AR- or AK-style rifles designed for the civilian market, but convey little meaning about the actual functions of the weapon." As noted by Gottlieb, "The gun prohibition lobby has always used 'assault rifle' or 'assault weapon' to confuse and frighten the public and make people think it's a fully automatic 'weapon of war.' Now we'll have to see how intellectually honest journalists will be in adopting this correct terminology, rather than continuing to use these deliberately misleading references. "This laudable effort by the Associated Press may help restore the level of trust the public should have in the media," he observed. "It will be interesting to see if the media now challenges politicians and anti-gun lobbyists whenever they use such terms, especially since 'AR' never referred to 'assault rifle' but to Armalite Rifle, and the gun control crowd has always known it."

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[cigars]

I never thought that I would see this coming from the woke-ish AP but kudos to them. They basically instructed their writers to stop using the term, "Assault Rifle" in their articles and releases. They also distinguished the difference between semi-auto and fully auto rifles. Good short read in the linky dinky below. But wow! Is this a rebirth of journalism integrity? Can you even use those two words in the same sentence of late?

Associated Press Makes "assault weapon" Change To AP Style Book

After years of incorporating ....“assault weapons” into news reports, journalists are now advised by the Associated Press to avoid the “highly politicized terms,”

www.ammoland.com

 

[ma96782]

Super late to the party.
The damage has already been done.
Just because they change the words …….doesn't make them my "friends".
F them and FJB.

Aloha, Mark

 

[po18guy]

I never thought that I would see this coming from the woke-ish AP but kudos to them. They basically instructed their writers to stop using the term, "Assault Rifle" in their articles and releases. They also distinguished the difference between semi-auto and fully auto rifles. Good short read in the linky dinky below. But wow! Is this a rebirth of journalism integrity? Can you even use those two words in the same sentence of late?

Associated Press Makes "assault weapon" Change To AP Style Book

After years of incorporating ....“assault weapons” into news reports, journalists are now advised by the Associated Press to avoid the “highly politicized terms,”

www.ammoland.com

Avoiding "highly politicized terms" means that half+ of the nation is ready to cut them.

 

[cigars]

Super late to the party.
The damage has already been done.
Just because they change the words …….doesn't make them my "friends".
F them and FJB.

Aloha, Mark

I don't disagree with you at all. The AP is a giant in media and I've been following their transition into wokeness over the years. For them to set this as a directive in their style book is actually pretty significant. Either it's a non-sequitur blip or it's the signal of change. We will just have to watch and see. But it's definitely something we should take note of.

FJB and KB.

 

[GWS]

I'm not so sure I agree with SAF's assessment. IMO, the term Assault Weapon has been rendered meaningless by their constant flinging it our faces. By switching to the vastly broader, though more accurate term they'll be ginning up more negativity toward all semi-automatic rifles. That term will gather up everything that wasn't in the evil black rifle genre. And lead to crap like 1639 or worse, on a national level.

 

[po18guy]

The left will be reasonable only when forced to. But, let up on the pressure for one minute and...

 

[titsonritz]

 

[nammac]

Sounds to me like the AP is going after all semiautomatic firearms…. It won't take long to turn woke America against anything semiautomatic. One wonders the real reason behind the AP's change, sounds to me they're simply hacks for the leftist, gun control crowd.

 

[po18guy]

They're toning down "Assault rifle" as they are going after all guns.

 

[Hemlock]

Now if they would stop using the term "gun violence." Guns aren't violent. They're inanimate objects until someone uses it. People that use them are violent.
When a pedestrian gets run over by a car, it's not auto violence. How about knife violence. Hammer violence.

 

[Stomper]

The left will be reasonable only when forced to. But, let up on the pressure for one minute and...

Yeah….. you ever watch "The Exorcist"?

When the left is pinned down they tend to replicate that scene where the line sounds like "your mother sews socks that SMELL!"

 

[DunRanull]

Sounds to me like the AP is going after all semiautomatic firearms…. It won't take long to turn woke America against anything semiautomatic. One wonders the real reason behind the AP's change, sounds to me they're simply hacks for the leftist, gun control crowd.

Anti-gun, pro-liberal HACKS- that's all they've ever been in my 70+ year lifetime.

 

[tinhorn]

Waiting for the day my single-shot .22 becomes a "sniper rifle".

 

[Yarome]

Waiting for the day my single-shot .22 becomes a "sniper rifle".

If you say it, they will come....

 

[K-22]

From 2AF

After years of incorporating the terms "assault rifle" and "assault weapons" into news reports involving firearms, especially when used in crimes, journalists are now advised by the Associated Press to avoid the "highly politicized terms," and the Second Amendment Foundation says it's a "smart gun change." "It's about time the media realized the terms 'assault rifle' and 'assault weapon' are inflammatory and meaningless," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "Those terms have become part of the gun prohibition lobby's lexicon, and unfortunately, journalists across the country have been all-too-willing to adopt their vocabulary and repeatedly use it in their reports. "I'm glad to see the AP Stylebook now recognizes that these firearms only fire one round each time a trigger is pulled," he continued, "and really function no differently than any other semi-auto rifle, pistol or shotgun, all of which have been in common use in this country for more than a century." According to an AP Style Tip, "The preferred term for a rifle that fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled, and automatically reloads for a subsequent shot, is a semi-automatic rifle. An automatic rifle continuously fires rounds if the trigger is depressed and until its ammunition is exhausted. "Avoid assault rifle and assault weapon," the AP adds, "which are highly politicized terms that generally refer to AR- or AK-style rifles designed for the civilian market, but convey little meaning about the actual functions of the weapon." As noted by Gottlieb, "The gun prohibition lobby has always used 'assault rifle' or 'assault weapon' to confuse and frighten the public and make people think it's a fully automatic 'weapon of war.' Now we'll have to see how intellectually honest journalists will be in adopting this correct terminology, rather than continuing to use these deliberately misleading references. "This laudable effort by the Associated Press may help restore the level of trust the public should have in the media," he observed. "It will be interesting to see if the media now challenges politicians and anti-gun lobbyists whenever they use such terms, especially since 'AR' never referred to 'assault rifle' but to Armalite Rifle, and the gun control crowd has always known it."

They should also lose the phrase, "high powered", and arsenal.
Best,
Gary