President Bill Clinton, Reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban Now

“Posted by: bluebok (3900 posts) Sep 20, 2019, 14:56 Cera....why does a person need an assault rifle? Simple question. And I'm talking a real world answer here, not hypothetical politically driven rubbish. “ The entire question goes back to understanding the entire confusion when it comes to what an assault rifle really is and what the general perception of an assault rifle is. First of all, the AR15 is the civilian version of the military M16 and it virtually has the same appearance of an M16. What the manufacturers of the AR15 did was to produce a civilian version but they opted for a semi automatic rifle. This is in one way similar to what Musgrave did in Bloemfontein but in another way totally different. Musgrave opted for a “genuine” bolt action “traditional” hunting rifle. The difference between the Musgrave and the AR15 is probably similar to the difference between a revolver and a pistol. That being said, the purpose of the AR15 is actually the same as that of the Musgrave. To produce a civilian hunting rifle based on a military rifle. They, Musgrave/Lyttelton Engineering, actually did initially go the same route as the AR15 when they produced the R3 but it was a flop because the South African market wanted a hunting rifle that looked like a hunting rifle. Lyttelton Engineering Works, initially made and sold the R3 but when it flopped they converted the R3s to R1s, brought in Dr Lucas Potgieter to help them develop a sports/hunting rifle, using barrels made by LEW. So, to get back to why someone would want an assault rifle. The answer is simple. They don’t. They want a hunting and target shooting rifle and the AR15 is perfect for that. Unlike popular belief, the AR15 is not an assault rifle. An assault rifle is a military style rifle that can fire BOTH automatically AND semi-automatic. The AR15 cannot fire automatically unless it is ILLEGALLY modified to do so. I hope that is civilised and unpolitical enough for you. OK, OK, that was tongue in cheek.

Correct, Draad and in essence it is actually an AR style rifle. ArmaLite actually made the M16 and the ArmaLite Rifle AR15 is actually the successor of the M16. The AR15 that all the pow wow is about is actually the Colt AR15 as you said. This is the rifle that Colt makes, under license for ArmaLite, based on the military ArmaLite. IIRC the M16 was actually based on the AR10.