If we are "sick of massacres," says the headline over Gail Collins' latest New York Times column, we should "get rid of the guns." Which guns? Collins herself is not sure. Sometimes she seems to be talking about the rifles that politicians call "assault weapons." She refers a few times to "assault rifles" and mentions "the infamous semiautomatic AR-15." But she also talks about banning "semiautomatic rifles" and "semiautomatics" in general, which are much broader categories that include many other commonly used guns.
As long as they do not have military-style features such as a folding stock, a pistol grip, or a threaded barrel, semi-automatic rifles are not covered by state "assault weapon" laws. The bill aimed at reviving the federal ban that expired in 2004 explicitly exempts dozens of semi-automatic rifles by name, and it applies to handguns only if they have specified characteristics such as a threaded barrel, a second pistol grip, or a barrel shroud.
