1. A brief description of “assault rifle”
I am not a gun nut. I’m completely in favor of SENSIBLE and EFFECTIVE regulation of firearms. However, the current government proposal to prohibit and buyback “assault style rifles” is neither sensible or effective. The government proposal relies on the electorate’s lack of knowledge about firearms and prejudices against firearms. It’s government by emotion. My intent is to provide factual information.
The assault rifle is a military weapon intended for use by soldiers. Assault rifles are defined as any firearm that has all three of the following characteristics: (1) a large capacity magazine, (2) it fires an intermediate power cartridge, and (3) it is capable of fully automatic fire. This definition is the accepted definition. See the list of references at the bottom of the article.
The first true assault rifle was the MP43. which was later renamed the Sturmgeschutz 44. For those of you who don’t speak German, “sturmgeschutz” means “assault rifle”. During the hurricane of blood that was the Eastern front during World War 2, the Wehrmacht discovered that their traditional bolt action K98 Mauser rifles were unsuited to combat in urban environments and close quarters. An intermediate power cartridge, the 7.92 Kurtz, which was more powerful than a pistol cartridge, and less powerful than the full power rifle cartidge was developed.
The idea behind the Stg 44, (which was also referred to as the MP 43 and the MP 44, which were earlier models of the same firearm, but FASCINATING as the subject of Nazi weapons procurement during WW2 is, I won’t make further reference to it) was to provide Wehrmacht infantry with a medium range weapon that had good accuracy, a large ammunition capacity, and was able to provide large volumes of supressive fire during the final stages of an infantry assault on a defended target. Wehrmacht military doctrine stressed fire superiority
The Soviets, who were the targets of the Stg.44, were impressed with the weapon and worked hard at developing their own. A couple of years after WW2 ended, the Soviets produced the AK-47 – the Avtomat Kalashnikova, 1947 model.
The similarities are obvious. The cartridge was different and it fired a slightly different bullet from the Stg, 44, and it was simpler to manufacture and not as well made as the German gun, but it was basically the same gun with the same three characteristics: (1) large capacity magazine, intermediate power cartridge, and capable of fully automatic fire.
The Americans were late to the party with the M-16. The Americans much preferred to use full-power rifle cartridges in the .30-06 Springfield and developed the semi-automatic M1 rifle (widely used during WW2) into the M-14 – which was essentially the same rifle but capable of fully automatic fire. This was almost uncontrollable and something better was needed. They came up with the M-16.
The M-16 entered servince in 1964 and was later developed into the M-4 carbine and a wide variety of derivatives. The M-16 has: (1) a large capacity magazine, (2) fires an intermediate power cartridge (the 5.56mm NATO) and (3) is capable of fully automatic fire.
Many other nations have developed assault weapons over the past 80 years. They all have large capacity magazines, fire intermediate cartridges and are capable of fully automatic fire.
Why is it called an “Assault Rifle”? Can I blame Hitler?
Yes, you absolutely can blame Hitler for this one. It is widely held by historians that Adolf Hitler was responsible for changing the designation to Sturmgeschutz 44 from is previous designations of MP 43 and MP 44. MP is an abbreviation of “Maschinenpistole“, which is the German term for “submachine gun”. Submachine guns are fully automatic but fire pistol ammunition. The Germans issued millions of MP 38’s and MP 40’s during World War 2. Hitler was initially opposed to the development of the Stg 44, but he gave it the name of “Sturmgeshutz”, which is “Assault Rifle”, as a branding exercise. Presumably, this would be better for troop morale, or scare the Soviets more, as if shooting at them with it wasn’t bad enough. This was a man who called the rockets “Vengeance Weapons”.
So, Yes. It was probably Hitler who coined the term “assault rifle”.
Can I buy an “Assault Rifle” in Canada?
No, you cannot. Remember, there are the three characteristics that define an assault rifle. They are:
(1) a large capacity magazine, (2) it fires an intermediate power cartridge, and (3) it is capable of fully automatic fire.
If any given firearm is missing one of the above features, it isn’t an assault rifle, even if it looks like one.
Large Capacity magazines were banned in Canada in 1994.
Intermediate power cartirdges, such as 5.56 NATO (also called .223 Remington) remain legal, though these cartridges are mostly illegal for hunting in Canada. Thr 5.56 NATO cartridge is too small for big game hunting, and hunting birds with rifles is generally prohibited.
Fully automatic weapons and those capable of fully automatic fire were prohibited in 1978. For more information, see “The History of Firearms in Canada” page on the RCMP website here: https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/history-firearms-canada\
What is an “Assault Style Rifle” in Canada? Why is the government prohibiting them and buying them back?
The sarcastic answer is that an “assault style rifle” is a firearm that LOOKS like an assault rifle and therefore scares people. Banning “assault style rifles” gives the illusion of doing something about gun violence in Canada, even though there are essentially no crimes committed in Canada with “assault style rifles”. “Assault Rifles” fire a caliber of ammunition that is not used in pistols or in hunting rifles. It should be easy to track when an assault style rifle is used in a crime as it fires bullets that are not commonly used. I have not been able to locate this information anywhere. It appears the government has NO IDEA how frequently “assault style rifles” are used in crimes.
Assault Style Rifles, the AR-15 in particular, are part of the mass shooting/culture war/2nd Amendment screaming match that has been going on in the United States for the past couple of decades. As seems to happen often, large chunks of Canadian policy thinking is imported from the United States.
Reference Materials
These books are useful reference materials and are the source of the information in this article.
This is an excellent reference book. It contains a concise history of the assault rifle. It also describes its characteristics as well as its use in the military. As an introduction to assault rifles, this provides all the necessary information in a non-political way. https://www.amazon.ca/Assault-Rifle-Maxim-Popenker
This is also an excellent reference book. It is 1900 pages of punishing detail about seemingly every assault rifle and model of assault rifle ever produced. It will tell you everything you want to know and many things you can’t possibly imagine about assault rifles. This is the definitive reference work on assault rifles. https://read.amazon.ca/kp/embed?asin=B01MXZEWZP&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_5ZP8HFXGV0MMF4HB08XS