The term "assault weapon" has no basis in military nomenclature. An assault rifle is defined as a shoulder-fired rifle, chambered in an intermediate power cartridge, capable of selective fire and fed from a detachable box magazine.
The term "assault weapon" is a recently invented legal and political term used to describe any number of firearms based on cosmetic features alone.
Google mp44,and you will find dozens and dozens,perhaps 100s of references to it being the first assault rifle.This and other weapons were referred to as assault rifles long before the politicians came up with their definition of assault rifle.Most of the weapons referred to by the media as being assault rifles are not nothing more than semi automatic rifles.