Can a person go hunting with an assault rifle?

Question

If not, why are they legal then?

Answer 1

Yes.

Why should they not be legal?

The way the government defines an "assault rifle", they are scarcely different from a semi-automatic hunting rifle.
The only thing that makes them so deadly is that you can attach a bayonet, a bi-pod, and other government defined gizmo's which make them sooo deadly & handy for assault purposes here...

Fully automatic weapons have been illegal to own without the afore-mentioned class III license since the 30's.
In most (all?) states it is illegal to hunt with an automatic weapon.

Trivia: How many people have been killed with a licensed fully automatic weapon?

There has only been one murder committed with a licensed, legally owned, fully-automatic weapon since they were licensed in the 30's. That was one where a police officer used his machine gun to kill his wife.
(And that was probably just a matter of choice - he probably had another weapon - don't you suppose?)

Disclaimer. That data is a few years old, maybe there have been two murders now with an legally owner "real" assault weapon or machine gun in 70 years.

Answer 2

I definitely agree with boker_magnum and DTTSCW89ACE. What classifies an "assault rifle" is idiocy and mainly comes from the ignorant media. But the rifle most ppl think of when you say assault rifle the AR-15 or any of its siblings, is not legal to hunt with in my state because of the caliber. Being a .223 it is considered a .22 and too small to hunt big game with. Hmm... of course you could hunt squirrels with it, that would be fun.

Answer 3

Who said you have to hunt to own a gun? I don't see anything about hunting in the Bill of Rights.

I do know about a Second Amendment that allows individual CITIZENS, the MILITIA (who are not Gov. "regulars" or in modern terms, GI's), to own ARMS (not single shot or low-capacity or non-self loading "hunting guns") - the word is ARMS, as in rifle, pistol, shotgun of all kinds.

"Assault" rifle is a media buzzword for anything that remotely looks like a military firearm whether its a simple semi-auto with no "assault rifle" attachments. Boker_magum has it right - and guess what? If it doesn't meet those criteria, its not an assault rifle.

Answer 4

An assault rifle is not limited to a firearm that fires on full auto or burst fire, a semi auto rifle can be classified as an assault rifle if it has a bayonet lug, pistol grip, capable of accepting high capacity magazines, 16" barrel, flash supressor, collapsable stock. I don't remember if it's 3 or 5 of the above I listed a firearm needs in order to be classified as an assault weapon. A full auto or burst weapon(select fire) Is classified as a class III weapon, not in any BATF description will you see the term assault rifle used to describe a class III weapon, unless the class III weapon meets the criteria for assault weapon.

Now to answer your question, in most states, hunting rifles must have a limit to the amount of ammo they can hold, caliber restrictions, and type of action the firearm can be. If the rifle meets the criteria of the states regulations, then yes, you can use it, as for why are they sold? we have something called the 2nd ammendment which protects CITIZENS rights to keep and bear arms.

Answer 5

define assault rifle

typically a legal hunting rifle holds 5 rounds or less
an AK style or AR15 style rifle holds more.

save the AKs and ARs for the range and get a good bolt action to hunt with. you only get one shot at an animal typically anyway and they are much more accurate

Answer 6

umm, true assault rifles are for the most part illegal, you can get special permits, but most folks I know can't own a weapon that fires burst or automatic. People can own weapons that look and are designed the same though, and yeah, you can go hunting with them, if it's an appropriate caliber for the game you're hunting. Note. I'm also a Canadian, so there may be some loop hole or info I'm missing about gun laws in the U.S.

Answer 7

Some states don't allow to hunt with a assault weapon,you need to buy you a hunting rifle.

Answer 8

Yes, but check with your local State game laws first. Some states limit the number of rounds that a rifle used for hunting can hold.

Why are they legal....becuase it's the second amendment. Just like the first amendment gives you the right to ask the question.

Why are cars legal, they kill too when used incorrectly?

Spoons make people fat, right?

Answer 9

If you mean by the correct definition being selective fire, yes you can, but you had better have the Class III stamp.

If you mean by the incorrect definition being the semi-auto rifle then yes you can as long as that particular rifle caliber is legal for that game.

Answer 10

As stated above, most hunting laws are regulated by magazine capacity, action, caliber, and also bullet construction. Most states require a bullet that expands for hunting.