assault weapon

noun

Definition of assault weapon

: any of various automatic or semiautomatic firearms especially : assault rifle

Examples of assault weapon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Members debated the issue, voted and the federal assault weapons ban was enacted. — Chris Murphy, Time, "Our Republican Colleagues in the Senate Must Act to Break the Cycle of Gun Deaths," 14 June 2019 Concord resident Ross Anthony Farca, 23, was charged this week with making criminal threats, as well as manufacturing and possessing an assault weapon. — Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, "Fueled by Nazi fascination, Concord man allegedly plotted to massacre Jewish people, police officers," 14 June 2019 And Robicheaux faces an additional charge of possessing an assault weapon. — Paulina Dedaj, Fox News, "Surgeon seen on Bravo reality show, girlfriend allegedly drugged, sexually assaulted women," 19 Sep. 2018 Foster was charged with domestic violence, forcefully attempting to dissuade a witness and possession of an assault weapon – all felonies – and is scheduled to appear in a San Jose courtroom on Tuesday. — A.j. Perez, USA TODAY, "49ers' linebacker Reuben Foster allegedly threw dog during domestic incident," 7 May 2018 It is often dismissed by gun-rights advocates for its imprecision in describing what, exactly, an assault weapon is or isn't. — Aj Willingham, CNN, "An Illinois town just banned assault weapons. The penalty if you keep one? Up to $1,000 a day," 5 Apr. 2018 Restrictions on assault weapons have proven to be a popular rallying cry for gun control advocates in the aftermath of recent mass shootings, from Parkland, Florida, to Las Vegas. — German Lopez, Vox, "Washington votes to strengthen gun laws with Initiative 1639," 7 Nov. 2018 President Trump recently nominated Brett Kavanaugh as the successor to Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, who, among his other positions, has said that a ban on assault weapons is unconstitutional. — Allie Gemmill, Teen Vogue, "Sacha Baron Cohen Got Pro-Gun Activists and Lawmakers to Support a Fake Program That Would Arm Children," 16 July 2018 In one of his notable decisions, Kavanaugh voted to reject a Washington, D.C.’s ban on assault weapons. — Abigail Simon, Time, "What to Know About the Potential Nominees President Trump Has Interviewed for the Supreme Court," 3 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'assault weapon.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about assault weapon

Dictionary Entries near assault weapon

Statistics for assault weapon

Last Updated

7 Jul 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for assault weapon

The first known use of assault weapon was in 1966

See more words from the same year

WORD OF THE DAY

speculate

to form ideas or theories about something

Test Your Vocabulary

Farm Idioms Quiz

What does 'poke' refer to in the expression 'pig in a poke'?

How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?

Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!

TAKE THE QUIZ

Word Winder's CrossWinder

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ