What's the difference between......

[MacViolinist]

An "Assault Weapon" (media term for 'scary black rifle' invented to scare people into giving up their 2nd A. rights)

and

a "Terrorist" (media term for 'someone accused of murder' invented to scare people into going to war)

 

[Hedger]

It depends... who knows what the media and antis mean... they define these terms themselves to suit their own purposes.

If you are talking "legal" defintions, you need to refer to a particular statute for the subject matter you are referencing.

For example, the federal BATF definition of "semi-automatic assault rifle" is found at 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(30) : http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/921.html

18 U.S.C. 2332 contains the defintions for international and domestic terrorism as amended under the Patriot Act : http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2331.html

 

[MacViolinist]

Hedger,
Interesting stuff, however, US code 18.1.113B.2331 defines a crime. Similarly US code 18.1.51.1111 defines the crime of murder. However, we do not normally refer to a person as a Murderer unless/until he/she is convicted of such. By the same token, I would assume that a person would not, legally speaking, be called a Terrorist until he/she is convicted of the crime. This brings me to my point. We as gun owners, get all kinds of mad when the media uses spin to scare the people into owtlawing certain guns for nothing more than cosmetic reasons, but we sit back and say "go get 'em" when the media uses spin to "convict" people before there has been any proof or trial. But it's all ok because it's happeneing to people half a world away and not us. Isn't that what we get so mad about with the hunting crowd? It's not happening to us, so who cares.