My point earlier was that definitions are changeable. The WW-1 Enfield was certainly an assault rifle, as defined at the time...and I recall reading in period literature what a furor there was about having a box magazine rather than having to single-load each round (think of all the ammunition those squaddies are going to waste!)...and the machine gun and tank were the weapons that were going to end all wars.

The earlier assault weapon ban defined assault weapons in a certain way; whatever is done now has to reflect 2013, not 1994.