I've always referred to the different firearms I've had or shot as guns or rifles, pistols, shotguns, etc. In the Marines, we called M-16's rifles, not weapons or assault rifles. We also referred to pistols as a pistol or even a .45 (yes, we had real pistols back then ) and shotguns were shotguns. In police work, we also called them pistols, shotguns and rifles. You wouldn't write a police report and just refer to an object as a "weapon" without describing it in more detail such as a pistol, knife, rock, scissors, bat, etc.

Putting all this semantics aside, I agree wholeheartedly with homers brother and bullcamp. Regardless of what you call them, the antis will still try to ban them cause that's what they do, like a rattlesnake trying to bite you. And all of us that own guns will use them as we need to because....


that's what we do.