Associated Press Uses "Assault Rifle" Misnomer And Aids "The War on Guns"

A couple of days ago, a story came up in my news feed regarding Blaec Lammers, the 20 something who planned to shoot up a movie theater and then slaughter people at a nearby Walmart. This story was written by Associated Press. In the third paragraph, they said that Lammers purchased "two assault rifles" weeks before his dastardly deed.

Associated Press would not confirm whether the weapons were "fully automatic", or if they used a common misnomer for "semi-automatic" firearms. I sent an email to them a week ago and never heard a response. They either did not read the email, read the email and did not care, or were told by superiors not to reply to the message.

The TL;DR version of all of this is that Associated Press has lost my trust as a trustworthy news source. As a matter of fact, my "trust" for information without accurate sources has now fully evaporated. Whether AP has sinister motives against firearms or not, their actions by this author, HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, the AP has certainly painted a picture against firearm use.

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Here is the email  I sent to Associated Press.

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Hello AP,

My inquiry is regarding an article written by a Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri.

The author uses the term "assault rifles" in paragraph 3 of the text. Could you please cite the source that investigators claimed the weapons were fully automatic? An "assault rifle" is a pejorative term for a select fire (3 round burst) or fully automatic weapon, firing multiple bullets with one pull of the trigger. Was this information gleaned off of similar news articles, a mistake on the part of law enforcement or the journalists, or is there something more sinister lurking in the background that the author is attempting to convey?

A fully automatic "assault rifle" is a class 3 weapon in the United States of America, as as such, every owner who has one MUST register the weapon with the government. To my knowledge, I have not learned of any gun store in the United States that is selling fully automatic firearms to unqualified individuals. Does Mr. Lammers have a permit and tax stamp for such a weapon? There has been only one crime committed in the United States in the past 30-40 years with a fully automatic weapon.

A semi-automatic firearm does not require a class 3 weapons license, and can be purchased by an individual with a proper background check. Semi-automatic firearms are not select fire or fully automatic, and the trigger must be pulled every time a bullet is to be fired. One trigger pull, one bullet fired.

There is a very heated debate right now regarding whether a person should be able to own a semi-automatic weapon or not, and I know the mainstream media is misleading readers into believing that semi-automatic firearms are the same as assault rifles, when clearly they are not. You need to clarify whether the weapons were fully automatic or not, and begin citing sources when posting your articles. “federal authorities” does not tell me anything.

I have trusted Associated Press for years to bring accurate reporting to the forefront. “Assault Rifle” is an extremely common misnomer used by the major media corporations and the common layperson, and I would trust that an honest media corporation would make the distinction and not attempt to mislead readers.

-Robert

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I have received zero comment from AP.