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

In the Democratic primary for governor, when former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich called for a ban on assault weapons, Cordray only backed expanded background checks. — Chrissie Thompson, Cincinnati.com, "New poll: Ohio should ban AR-15 assault weapons such as those used in school shootings," 14 June 2018 These include blanket support of assault weapon bans and disapproval of arming teachers. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Fed-up AMA doctors overwhelmingly support gun restrictions in sweeping votes," 13 June 2018 The 1994 Crime Bill also included a ban on assault weapons. — Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, "The Rise of the Victims’-Rights Movement," 14 May 2018 Eunice, as Senate Pro Tem, was also the tie-breaking vote for a groundbreaking assault weapon ban in 1993, after a heated debate that included state Sen. Doc Gunther pointing a rifle at her on the Senate floor. — courant.com, "Eunice Groark," 10 May 2018 When Parkland students traveled to Tallahassee a week after the nation's deadliest high school shooting to demand a ban on assault weapons, lawmakers from both parties listened to them. — Alex Daugherty, miamiherald, "Dinesh D'Souza mocked Parkland survivors. Now he's speaking at a Florida GOP event. | Miami Herald," 30 Apr. 2018 Sixty percent of Republican or Republican-leaning women who own guns support a ban on assault weapons compared to 28 percent of their male counterparts, according to the Pew study. — Ashley Remkus, AL.com, "Huntsville police investigating homicide at mobile home park," 27 Apr. 2018 The city is now amending its safe-storage ordinance to include a complete ban on assault weapons. — Shibani Mahtani, WSJ, "Does This Illinois Town Have the Country’s Toughest Gun Law?," 19 Apr. 2018 New Jersey, Vermont, and, yes, Florida, have passed various reforms to curb gun violence, says Brown, who has been fighting for reforms such as national background checks and limits on assault weapons since 1990. — Clifton Leaf, Fortune, "To Stop Gun Violence, the Students Teach," 19 Apr. 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

27 Oct 2018

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

tomfoolery

playful or foolish behavior

Test Your Vocabulary

Autumn Words of the Day 2018

Which is a synonym of fugacious?

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ

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

TAKE THE QUIZ

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games