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Seattle murder weapon not ‘military-style assault rifle’
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The rifle allegedly used in the cowardly slaying of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Q. Brenton on Halloween night is not a “military-style assault rifle” as asserted in a Seattle Times report, which was subsequently used by Seattle Weekly reporter Nina Shapiro in an attempt to blister a local gun rights advocate, Alan Gottlieb.
Shapiro should have done some homework before rushing to smear Gottlieb. Reader reaction to her comments is essentially very negative.
Indeed, when initially contacted about the gun – after the Seattle Times had published an image of the rifle on its website – one SPD information officer could not specifically identify it without a bit of help from the Seattle Gun Rights Examiner.
Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said a search Saturday of Monfort's apartment turned up bomb-making materials, improvised explosive devices and two rifles, including a "military-style assault rifle" similar to the type of weapon police believe was used to kill Brenton and wound his rookie partner, Officer Britt Sweeney. -- Seattle Times
That image shows a Kel-Tec SU-16CA, a semiautomatic rifle chambered for the .223 Remington cartridge, the same round that is used in AR-15 style rifles manufactured by Colt, Bushmaster, Remington, Sig Sauer and a host of other companies, including Washington State’s own Olympic Arms. Actually, none of these guns is an assault rifle by true definition. They just resemble military rifles and have been demonized because they are black.
What if we applied that same standard to people?
An informative “assault rifle” definition can be found on Wikipedia.
The translation assault rifle gradually became the common term for similar firearms sharing the same technical definition as the StG 44. In a strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle:It must be an individual weapon with provision to fire from the shoulder (i.e. a buttstock);It must be capable of selective fire;It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle;Its ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine. -- Wikipedia
The Kel-Tec, according to the company’s website, has a 16-inch barrel, a folding synthetic stock and trigger mechanism (the gun is rendered inoperable when the stock is folded) and a Parkerized (black-gray) finish. It comes from the factory with two ten-round magazines, but will accept larger capacity magazines designed for AR-15 clones.
This rifle does not have a separate pistol grip, as does the AR-15. Indeed, the stock styling is rather traditional in nature – it doesn’t really look like an AR-15 at all – except that it happens to be…(what’s that word, again?)...black.
What this rifle does have are a couple of interesting features that might make it popular with hikers, small game hunters and target shooters, and as a survival rifle for bush pilots, but far less likely anyone headed to a battlefield. Spare magazines may be carried in the stock, and the forearm can fold out to create a bipod. There is a rail on top for mounting a scope. The stock can actually be folded so the rifle can fit in a compact area, like a backpack.
Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are technically not assault rifles despite frequently being considered as such. For example, semi-automatic-only rifles that share designs with assault rifles such as the AR-15 (which the M-16 rifle is based on) are not assault rifles, as they are not capable of switching to automatic fire and thus not selective fire. Belt-fed weapons (such as the M249 SAW) or rifles with fixed magazines are likewise not assault rifles because they do not have detachable box magazines. -- Wikipedia
Essentially, this is a rifle designed for sport-utility use, chambered in a caliber used by people who hunt prairie dogs, coyotes and other varmints and small game.
Had the Seattle Times or Seattle Weekly bothered to contact Kel-Tec, they might know this. Kel-Tec hasn’t been contacted by anybody, other than this writer. They certainly haven't heard from Shapiro.
So, just because it has a black synthetic stock and fires the same cartridge as an AR-15 clone, the Kel-Tec is not an “assault rifle.” Maybe it’s the cartridge. One might have a hard time convincing the folks at Remington, Winchester, Savage and Browning that their bolt-action varmint rifles, which can be fitted with black synthetic stocks and chambered for the .223-caliber cartridge are “assault rifles.”
Maybe it’s because the Kel-Tec is a semi-auto. Yeah, but the Browning BAR, Remington 7400, Benelli R1, Ruger 99/44 Deerfield and the Ruger Model 44 are all semi-autos and all are hunting rifles. Ruger’s Mini-14 is a handy little sport-utility rifle that also fires the .223 Remington cartridge and there are versions that come with black synthetic stocks, but it is hardly an “assault rifle.”
The term "assault rifle" is often more loosely used for commercial or political reasons to include other types of arms, particularly arms that fall under a strict definition of the battle rifle, or semi-automatic variant of military rifles such as AR-15s.The US Army defines assault rifles as "short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachinegun and rifle cartridges. -- Wikipedia
Seattle police say the rifle recovered at the home of suspected cop-killer Christopher Monfort is a ballistic match to the gun used in Officer Brenton’s slaying. They say there is something unique about the barrel, though the published image of the rifle does not suggest this. It looks like a stock Kel-Tec barrel, and a source at Kel-Tec who examined the photo image told me that the barrel on this rifle is extremely difficult to swap out and would require the services of a competent gunsmith. Presumably details about this will come out in court, if not in the charging documents.
Pugel said the rifle had a unique barrel that helped forensic experts match the weapon to the rounds fired into the patrol car. -- Seattle Times
Shapiro took Gottlieb to task because he reacted to Washington CeaseFire President Ralph Fascitelli’s attempt to push a political agenda to ban so-called “assault rifles” before the gun was identified; essentially capitalizing on Brenton’s murder for a headline. Now that the Seattle Times, or perhaps SPD, has erroneously labeled this gun an “assault rifle,” Shapiro is doing an “I told ya so.”
Before Shapiro tells anyone else, she ought to be a little more thorough.
More from Gun Rights Examiners
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Phoenix: Douglas Little | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Wisconsin: Gene German
And Don’t forget to visit:
For more info: Second Amendment Foundtion. Kel-Tec CNC
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