Where did the term "assault rifle" originate, and what was the original "assault weapon'?

Edit

The original assault rifle was the German MP43/44.

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 United States Army defines and assault rifle as "short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachinegun and rifle cartridges".

The term "assault weapon" is a recently invented legal and political term used to describe any number of firearms based on cosmetic features alone. Technically, an "assault weapon" is any weapon one uses to assault another, so the definition could be made to extend to just about any object that can be used as a weapon. Politically it's nothing more than a term used to scare ignorant voters and vilify an inanimate object based on its appearance rather than its function.

Mike

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.

I was pointing out that there is a difference between the term "assault weapon" and "assault rifle". Read my post again carefully. When I say "assault rifle" that is what I mean, as opposed to an "assault weapon". My point was that there is the military term and the legal/political term, and the two are not interchangeable and only loosely related.

And yes, I am fully aware that the Sturmgewehr 44 (aka the StG44, Maschinenpistole 44, or MP-44) was the first true assault rifle adopted by a military, and I was in no way attempting to refute your statement.

Mike

Assault rifle or weapon....anything pointed at me that goes bang.

Bingo! StG44! A gun and a phrase that is 75 years old! Twisted by the Anti's to provoke fear to the masses and even division amongst gun owners!
The point is: Unite and protect the Second Amendment! ALL rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and by the blood of our Fathers are based on the foundation of our Second Amendment!
To bargain away the right to bear arms, is the first step in the EXTINCTION of AMERICA!

Right, and Herr Schiklegruber ( A. Hitler) named it. -"Sturm Gewehr"= (Assault rifle).

Actually the translation is "Storm Rifle",which then became Assault Rifle.