After the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting , many news organizations ran stories about assault weapons , explaining their varying definitions and presenting varying opinions about whether they should be banned again at the federal level . Drawing from federal and state law definitions , the term assault weapon refers primarily to semi-automatic rifles , pistols , and shotguns that are able to accept detachable magazines and possess one or more other features . Some jurisdictions define revolving cylinder shotguns as assault weapons . Legislative definitions do not include fully automatic weapons , which are regulated separately as Title II weapons under federal law . A key defining law was the now-defunct Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 . At that time , the United States Department of Justice said , " In general , assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use . " Common attributes used in legislative definitions of assault weapons include : Dictionary definitions vary from legal definitions . Dictionary.com defines " assault weapon " as " any of various automatic and semiautomatic military firearms utilizing an intermediate-power cartridge , designed for individual use . " Merriam-Webster 's online definition is " any of various automatic or semiautomatic firearms ; especially : assault rifle . " In the past , the names of certain military weapons used the phrase , such as the Rifleman 's Assault Weapon , a grenade launcher developed in 1977 for use with the M16 assault rifle , or the Shoulder-launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon , a rocket launcher introduced in 1984
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
Assault weapon