The irony in that statement is rich
Actually Hikergirl, I think all those opinion stations need to go, all of them
"a military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency". Fortunately there is no emergency for which to arm the population, unless Queen Elizabeth decides to invade
[ETA] And with that sneaky comment, I shut my gob and YAGE
That is the way the term is used now but our actual FF didn't want a large gov military "standing army" either, they felt that people would be exploited, having wars not always in their best interests, so they wanted to have a militia of the people which of course we don't have now in the US, except for the National Guard, as regular people are not in it, since regular people are not soldiers. So they can't use this to justify having these weapons as they are not soldiers. James Madison: In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body.
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.
Madison also noted that never-ending war tends to destroy both liberty and prosperity:
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied: and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
And the bolded says it all- they designed a semi-auto which means that it is not an assault rifle. The AR-15 in which consumers can purchase today lack the ability to fire in any mode other than semi-auto.
Do you consider every semi-automatic rifle or pistol an assault weapon?
From the links in your post
An
assault rifle is a
selective-fire rifle that uses an
intermediate cartridge and a
detachable magazine
Selective fire means the capability of a
weapon to be adjusted to fire in
semi-automatic,
burst mode, and/or
fully automatic firing mode
"
ArmaLite designed a lightweight
assault rifle for military use and designated it the
ArmaLite Rifle-15, or AR-15.
[7][8][9]" It doesn't matter what it is called regardless.