Question of the day? Which rifle is an "assault" weapon?
The answer is NEITHER!
The fact is both weapons are identical; same muzzle velocity, same rate of fire, use the exact same round, a 223 caliber (5.56mm). The ONLY difference is appearance. The so-called "assault" weapon has a pistol grip handle. The horror, a handle! O...and plastic fore grips! In fact, in Nam we joked about the M16 looking like it was made by Mattel!
I trained on the M14 (7.62mm NATO caliber) and carried the M16 (.223/5.56mm NATO caliber) in Vietnam. The M14 and M16 are military weapons, capable of full automatic fire. The AR-15 is NOT a military weapon and is only capable of semi auto rate of fire! The M16 has a "cyclic rate of fire" on full auto of approximately 720 rounds per minute. The AR-15 is one trigger pull for one round down range. At best, maybe 50 rounds per minute. You could not hit the broad side of a barn at 50 rounds per minute!
The M14 (7.62mm) is a better weapon for longer range shooting (bigger, heavier bullet) while the M16 is lighter and easier to manage in jungle or other heavy growth situations. The military 7.62 is closely related to the standard .308 caliber hunting round BUT the .308 hunting round is actually a hotter load by nearly 10,000 psi of chamber pressure!
As to addressing the mass shooting problem in America....The decay of society and the feeling of hopelessness is the root cause of the problem. Banning guns is a poor band-aid. In fact, the problem relates more to absent fathers, divorce, violent video games, and over medicating our children than to the availability of guns.
I often say...If you take an aspirin for the brain tumor, you may feel a little better but you are STILL gonna die. Banning guns and trampling on our Constitutional right to defend ourselves will not solve the mass shooting problem.
Reestablishing self worth and hope for the future and love and respect for others is the only solution. It is also the most difficult and, sadly, the least likely to happen. There is evil in the world and it has taken root. Throwing band-aids at the problem will just make things worse.
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