I cant get over how easy this issue is.

So simple.

Yet...........................and some of our gun people here are folks I like, and who I understand.

There are some selective-fire assault rifles and submachineguns available on the civilian market, but because new ones were prohibited from entering the system many years ago, they're very rare and extremely expensive (comfortably in to five-figure territory...).

Semi-automatic versions of these weapons are quite common.

fully auto = 20 dead in 30 seconds and only 10 dead otherwise?

Does anybody know?

anyone can modify a rifle to make one. Now you can pretty much print one out on a 3D printer.

he was able to fend off a mob of cartel dudes. that's why we should all have one!

Did I say one? I meant 12

Gun magazines, in gun magazines:

They claim assault weapon is a buzzword, but acknowledge assault rifles are a thing. So about half of your examples do not challenge their preconceptions, though the quoted paragraph and the Gun Digest covers do.

crowd claims that there is no such thing as an assault weapon, that it's a made up term and only used to scare people.

Welcome to DU.

...all came out after the term "assault weapons" was popularized in the media...and they took some crap for it from many gun enthusiasts...FWIW.

Personally, I've never been one to jump on gun control advocates' use of the term "assault weapon" much in the first place. That just obscures the real issues. While I don't doubt that the scary-sounding term was used as a rhetorical device, that's just how socio-political debates go down: both sides try to frame the debate in language that serves their POV. The pro-gun side is every bit as bad, and it's embarrassing.

Anyone (of whatever opinion on the issue) with any kind of critical thinking skills learns to filter out the appeal-to-emotion fallacies both sides indulge in.

Those are all semi-automatic weapons (if that) and are among the most rarely used firearms when it comes to crime. And some of those magazines are from the 80s!