Styling For the Narrative

Last week, the Associated Press tweeted a style tip, suggesting that writers use the term “semi-automatic rifle” rather than "assault weapon" or "assault rifle," ostensibly because the latter terms have become "highly politicized."

Interesting timing, I'd say.

Vernacular usage of phrase "assault weapon" appears to trace back to the 1980s, when some gun-control advocates decided to isolate and vilify an increasingly popular format of semi-automatic rifle as part of a 'divide and conquer' strategy whose ultimate goal would be abolition of private ownership of firearms. Or, if you prefer, a nibble at a time, death by a thousand cuts, frog in the pot, or some such euphemism. Incorrectly portraying these rifles, more recently dubbed Modern Sporting Rifles by some, as military weapons or guns whose sole purpose is to 'kill lots of people quickly' (a message popularized by then-President Bill Clinton and regurgitated by too many people who knew far too little about either the format or the subject), was deliberate.

Military forces use "assault rifles," a specific class of long gun, per the BATFE, that has "selective fire" capability. That is, it can be switched from one bullet fired per trigger pull to multiple bullets fired per trigger pull. Such firearms are rare, expensive, and differently regulated from semi-automatic rifles, are not easily acquired, and more germanely are never the weapon of choice in the mass shooting events that spark all this outrage. So, "assault rifle" is simply incorrect terminology.

I don’t think the AP telling reporters to stop using "assault rifle" is about accuracy, but I move on to "assault weapon."

Why the style reminder as to that phrase?

Could it be that the recent mass shooting in Buffalo unmasked the hollowness of the "assault weapon" outrage? New York State has an assault weapon ban, so definitionally the rifle that the murderer purchased for his carnage is not an assault weapon. He (illegally) modified the rifle after purchasing it, which serves as a reminder that guns are merely hunks of metal, plastic, and/or wood, and that a determined sociopath is going to get around whatever bans the government imposes.

Assault weapons bans are, at their core, about cosmetics. The firearms covered thereby are 'scary-looking' to the ill-informed and inexperienced, so they make great bogeymen, but functionally, they are no different than many other semi-automatic rifles that remain totally legal under those bans.

Consider first: Two rifles, functionally identical, one compliant with New York's SAFE Act (which includes an assault weapon ban), and one banned.

Consider next: Two rifles, functionally identical, one targeted by those who advocate assault weapon bans, and one that passes their muster.

As with so many other ideas born of emotion and ignorance, the "assault weapon" concept is unraveling as reality intrudes.

The dirty part of this is that, rather than giving up on their assault weapon ban desires, the anti-gun activists are now setting their eyes on a much broader target: semi-automatic firearms in general. Biden has mumbled about it, and more of the usual voices are saying it.

So, the narrative-writers are adjusting the language we encounter to suit. Suddenly, a whole lot more people are going to talk about semi-automatic firearms... or rather, treat them as the new bogeyman.

Meanwhile, they are contorting themselves into pretzels to avoid praising the young man who stopped a recent mass shooting, by taking down the bad guy within 15 seconds of the first shots fired, from 40 yards away, with a semi-automatic handgun, scoring 8 hits out of 10 shots fired. Not only brave and heroic, but impressively skilled. His armed presence was enabled by Indiana's recent move to "constitutional carry," wherein a citizen is not required to get a permit to carry a firearm concealed, and by ignoring a “no guns” message from the mall .

No lesson will be acknowledged from that "good guy with a gun" event, nor from the colossal abdication of duty in Uvalde, where nearly 400 law enforcement officers loitered for up to 70 minutes while that murderer slaughtered children, nor from the rampant crime increases born of progressive ideas on law enforcement, community policing, and government's job in protecting the rights of its citizens, nor of the cultural sickness that produces the mass murderers plaguing us.

Modern politics and news reporting - but I repeat myself - starts with conceiving an outcome, then managing the information offered to the masses in pursuit of that outcome. While I can't definitively declare that the AP's style update (or reminder, if you prefer) is connected to adjusting the narrative, it sure feels like it.

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Peter.