Thread by @igorvolsky

1/ Conservatives pretend gun violence prevention advocates made up the term "assault weapon" to scare the public, but the truth is the industry described exactly these civilian versions as "assault rifles" & "assault pistols" b/c they saw it as a *selling point*

2/ 1982: Guns&Ammo published a book titled Assault Rifles, advertising "complete data on the best semi-automatics."

1984: Guns&Ammo advertised Assault Firearms "full of the hottest hardware available today....covers the field with...assault rifles from the armies of the world"

3/ 1988: Guns&Ammo's Jan Libourel defined "assault pistol" as: "A high-capacity semi-automatic firearm styled like a submachine gun but having a pistol-length barrel and lacking a buttstock."

4/ The firearm industry highlighted the increased lethality of assault weapons, their similarity to military-issued weapons as *selling points*...they literally advertised this....now, they're describing these very same weapons as "modern sporting rifles". That's PR spin, folks