A curious mutation in gun control activism occurred during the last few decades, whence began a fixation on something dubbed the "assault rifle.”
Never mind that an assault rifle, insofar as the designation was ever at all valid, had always referenced a weapon with a "select fire” feature allowing three types of operation: semi-automatic, fully-automatic or in three-shot bursts. This doesn't, of course, describe the class of rifles (e.g., AR-15-style) now targeted, whose operation is semi-automatic only (one bullet released per trigger pull), just like 50 percent of all new guns sold. But whatever you call them, here are two facts: