This picture shows the M16A1 rifle (Figure 1) and the M16A2 rifle (Figure 2). These are the rifles used by the United States military and countless other military units throughout the world.
Using military terminology, they are true "assault rifles" - that is they are an intermediate caliber, selective-fire firearm designed for infantry. Selective fire means that the rifle is capable of fully automatic fire.
Fully automatic fire means that when the trigger is depressed, the rifle will fire, load and chamber the next round from the magazine, and fire again for as long as the trigger is held down. Under U.S. law, these rifles are considered Machineguns
and have been strictly regulated since 1934 under the National Firearms Act. The other feature of an assault rifle is that it is of "intermediate caliber." Typically this
is a smaller, less powerful caliber than those used in past infantry rifles in order to make the weapon controllable by a single individual in fully automatic fire. The M16 is chambered in 5.56x45mm (also known as .223 Remington in the civilian world).
In the above picture, there are three cartridges (from left to right): .30-06 (what the United States used as its main infantry ammunition in WWII), 7.62x51mm (also known as .308 Winchester - what the U.S. used until Vietnam for its infantry rifle and still uses in its heavier machineguns), and finally 5.56x45mm.
As you can see, the 5.56x45mm not only uses a much smaller bullet; but also has a smaller case containing less powder. While this gives the round less power than previous U.S. ammunition, it does allow controllable full-auto fire
from a lightweight rifle. For example, the WWII Browning Automatic Rifle firing .30-06 weighed 18lbs. and was still difficult to control in full auto. The much lighter 8lb M16A2 is quite controllable in full auto thanks to the intermediate caliber. These rifles also use a detachable magazine. This is a small metal box that
holds ammunition. Rather than reloading the box in order to fire again, you can detach the magazine and replace it with another magazine that is already loaded. This invention dates back to 1888.
However, none of the rifles listed above were banned by the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. These rifles were banned almost eight years previously and even before that had been much more strictly regulated than the types of firearms you can buy from a local gun store.
The rifles above are the AR15 and AR15A2. As you can see, from the outside they are almost indistinguishable from the M16A1 and M16A2 in appearance. However, much like putting fat tires, spoilers, and flared fenders on a Pinto doesn't make it a top-fuel dragster, the rifles above have much different internal parts. The AR15 has five different internal parts - the trigger, disconnector, hammer, selector, and bolt carrier. In addition, the AR15 is missing the M16 sear entirely. The AR15 has these parts because it is a semi-automatic rifle. Because full-automatics have been strictly regulated since 1934 and are relatively uncommon in the civilian market, many civilians mistakenly refer to semi-automatics as "automatics" since they automatically load the next round. However, the AR15 is not a machinegun and fires a single round with each pull of a trigger. The main difference between an AR15 and an older bolt-action type rifle is that the AR15 uses expanding gas from the fired round to load and chamber the next round where a bolt action uses the muscle power of the shooter to do the same task. The AR15 is also not easily converted to full automatic (nor is it legal to do so) since not only do you need the restricted parts mentioned above; but you also need to drill a hole in the receiver for the automatic sear and remove any receiver shelf meant to prevent the installation of M16 internal parts. However, like many semi-automatic rifles, the AR15 can be made to slamfire through excessive wear or deliberate alteration. This is an unsafe condition where the rifle fires continuously when the trigger is pulled and continues to fire until the parts hang up on each other (a common occurence since slamfires cycle the rifle much faster than it was designed), the rifle runs out of ammunition, or the rifle attempts to fire out of battery and explodes. Because of the uncontrolled nature and potential for an out-of-battery explosion, slamfires are both unsafe and impractical for illegal use. However, because the AR15 looks disturbingly like the M16 (a factor which appeals to many gun collectors who cannot collect the military weapons), it was one of many weapons targeted by the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. This law banned 19 firearms by name (including the AR15) and also banned any semi-automatic rifle with a detachable magazine that contained the following features:
As you can see, the 1994 ban banned external cosmetic features, even though the difference between the military M16 and the civilian AR15 lies in the internal parts. However, many may ask why gun owners care whether these features are restricted. For example, the collapsible stock is often used to adjust the length of pull to suit shooters of different stature or to accomdate heavy clothing (like a winter hunting jacket). A folding stock is often used to make the rifle easier to store. Opponents of semi-automatic rifles claimed that these features made the rifles "more concealable"; but these rifles were still subject to United States federal law which states that no rifle can have an overall length of less than 26" with the stock extended or a barrel length of less than 16". For example, the most compact AR15 model with a collapsible stock and a 16" barrel is approximately 30" in length with the stock collapsed. At 2.5 feet long, it is going to be difficult to conceal. Inexplicably, bullpup design rifles that lacked a folding stock but were even shorter than the banned models were still legal.
The pistol grip is a common feature on not just military rifles; but modern bolt-action target rifles as well. While the concept of a "pistol grip rifle stock" was originally coined in the 19th century, the modern "pistol grip" refers to a different idea. The idea is that by placing the straight-line stock directly behind the barrel of the rifle, it isures that the recoil is transmitted straight back into the shoulder resulting in less muzzle rise after a shot and better recoil control. The downside of this is that the sights must be raised high above the bore in order to accomodate the straight stock. This means that shooters must accomodate the difference caused by the higher sights. Another consequence of the straight line stock design is that the shooter cannot grasp a traditional rifle stock and still reach the trigger. In order to allow a straight-line rifle stock that absorbs recoil better, a rifle must have a pistol grip. Supporters of the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban argued that the pistol grip was designed to allow "spray fire from the hip"; but the truth is that "spray fire from the hip" has always had a very limited role in U.S. military doctrine and the idea of firing a rifle from the hip while advancing existed long before the modern pistol grip design was commonly used.
The bayonet mount has little practical use for shooters. It was considered a desirable feature mostly by collectors who could not own the M16 military rifle but wanted a rifle that closely resembled it. On the flip side, it is unclear exactly what the benefit was in banning this feature since bayonet homicides were virtually an unheard of crime both before, during and after the ban.
The flash suppressor is designed to minimize the flash affecting the shooter in lowlight environments. Given that many law enforcement and self-defense shootings take place at low-light, the flash hider was mostly prized by military collectors and those who purchased the rifle with defensive use in mind.
Last was the "grenade launcher" - a feature that almost everybody would agree should be banned from civilian firearms. In this case though, the term was used mostly for shock value. Military rifles use a weapon known as a rifle grenade. This is an explosive weapon that attaches to the muzzle of a rifle and is launched by firing a bullet or a special blank round into the base of the grenade. Rifle grenades are considered "Destructive Devices" and are also regulated under the 1934 National Firearms Act. Because of NATO standardization, any rifle using a 28mm flash hider or similar muzzle device can accept NATO rifle grenades. For the purposes of the assault weapon ban, this made any civilian semi-automatic rifle with a 28mm muzzle device into a "grenade launcher." Despite the fact that many of these devices were already banned as flash suppressors, they were banned again as "grenade launchers."
Under the 1994 ban, any rifle with the prohibited features could no longer be manufactured for civilian use. Rifles with prohibited features that were manufactured prior to 1994 were still legal to sell and possess, however. In addition, detachable magazines
capable of holding more than 10 rounds were also no longer manufactured for civilian use; but like the banned rifles, those that had already been produced were still legal to own and sell. Because these rifles accept the same magazines as the military rifles and because
many of these magazines had been produced widely for some 35 years prior to the ban, there were literally millions of legal magazines that were manufactured prior to 1994.
The rifle above is a post-ban AR15A2 rifle that was manufactured during the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. As you can see, it is remarkably similar to both the M16 and the pre-ban AR15A2. The main differences are that this rifle lacks a bayonet lug, a threaded muzzle or a flash suppressor. However, the rifle is still a semi-automatic, gas-operated, .223 rifle that was widely sold to civilians. In fact, in 1999 alone, almost 120,000 post-ban AR15 rifles were produced and sold. Internally, this rifle is identical to the pre-ban AR15A2 and fires at the same rate (one round per pull of the trigger) and requires the same procedures to be converted to full automatic. While the rifle in this picture has a 10 round detachable magazine, it can accept and use a 30 round military magazine and as long as the magazine was manufactured prior to 1994, it would have been perfectly legal to do so.
In 2009, there was a great deal of media focus on the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. Reporters blamed everything from a surge of crime in Mexico to spree-style shootings in the United States on the expiration of the ban. One of my primary motivators in publishing this webpage again after the 1994 ban expired was to address these claims. As you can see, the legal post-ban rifle is functionally identical to the banned rifle. The difference lies only in cosmetic features. I am not sure if reporters are too uninformed to recognize this difference or simply don't care; but it seems to me that since the Colt AR15 was widely available and sold during the ban, the expiration of the ban can't possibly have any effect on its availability. At best, it can only affect the cosmetic features that were banned.
In an effort to reemphasize this point, I have reintroduced my "Assault Weapon Ban Challenge Quiz". In this quiz, you will be shown pictures of rifles and you will have to determine whether the rifle is banned from manufacture under the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban or whether it was completely legal to manufacture under the ban.