tigerwarrior,

If an intelligent discussion is to take place about guns and gun control, a clear definition of "assault weapon" needs to be agreed upon.  By any learned definition, how you just threw out the term is profoundly incorrect.  By definition NO semi-automatic firearm can be an assault weapon.  It does not matter how scary it looks or how many uninformed people wet their pants upon seeing it.

I daresay you remain in good company; such mental giants as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein and Michael Bloomberg have amply demonstrated they know no better - despite the passing of more years and opportunites than I care to remember.

By the way, I wouldn't credit the NRA too much if I were you.  To put things in cold, hard, perspective, a single billionaire like Michael Bloomberg can spend more dollars and marshal more resources than the NRA and its three million members ever could.  By a lot.  A tremendously huge lot.