Holding Court is a series by retired Rye City Court Judge Joe Latwin. Latwin retired from the court in December 2022 after thirteen years of service to the City.
What topics do you want addressed by Judge Latwin? Tell us.
By Joe Latwin
Unless you are talking about a Sturmgewehr (Storming Rifle), you are probably not properly describing an assault rifle. The Sturmgewehr, produced by Germany for use on the Eastern Front in 1944 was the first successful assault rifle, with features including a cartridge greater than a pistol but less than a battle rifle (greater than .45 caliber, but less than .303), controllable automatic fire, a more compact design than a battle rifle (such as the M1 Garand or K98 Mauser) with a higher rate of fire, and being designed primarily for hitting targets within a few hundred meters (battle rifles sought to hit targets at 600 yards).
Assault rifles are not automatic weapons or machine guns. They are semiautomatic. Each individual pull of the trigger fires a single bullet. They utilize a portion of the energy of a fired cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and to chamber the next round.
Now assault rifles are defined by Legislators who are either ignorant or indifferent. Assault rifles are defined by their looks rather than their effective use. New York defines them as a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and having either a folding or telescoping stock; (a) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon; (b) thumbhole stock; (c) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand; (d) a bayonet mount; (e) a flash suppressor, muzzle break, muzzle compensator, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor, muzzle break, or muzzle compensator; or (f) a grenade launcher. None of these (a)-(f) features add significantly to the lethality of a rifle.
In fact, there are many rifles on the market that shoot the same size bullet from the same size cartridge, yet lack the cosmetic features that are seen as scary. You can by a Rufer 10/22 rifle that shots a bullet not much bigger than a BB that is not an assault rifle, but a Smith and Wesson MP22 that shots the same bullet but has a pistol grip. A pistol grip (as opposed to a curved wooden stock), a thumbhole in the stock doesn’t affect how a bullet is fired. A second handgrip likewise doesn’t affect how a bullet is fired but might be an aid to those with a disability that might otherwise be unable to use a rifle. Even the military rifles no longer have bayonet lugs. We don’t fight in WWI style trenches anymore and you never hear of mass murderers stabbing their victims. Grenade launchers are for use at a distance, not in confined quarters. If a terrorist wants to use a grenade in a church or school, they can simply toss a grenade by hand.
Gun manufacturers simply design their guns without these features. Almost any feature the Legislature can dream up, gun company engineers can design around to render the law meaningless. It’s not the gun; it’s the person using it. There have been mass killings by swords, knives, firebombs, and even motor vehicles.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to stop sick people from killing us. We need to be more concerned with being effective than saying we did something to make us feel better.
