The thing is, there's no clearly defined set of characteristics that makes a firearm "military", "hunting", "sniper" or any other purpose. There are bolt-action

The thing is, there's no clearly defined set of characteristics that makes a firearm "military", "hunting", "sniper" or any other purpose. There are bolt-action rifles that take 20-round detachable magazines[0] and semi-automatics that only hold 4[1]. Incidentally, putting some different accessories on that same rifle makes it look like a military weapon[2]. The primary functional difference between guns labeled "military-style" or "assault" and "sporting" or "hunting" is a detachable magazine with larger capacity. One might think that regulating those would be an effective means of mitigating the impact of criminal acts with guns, but that was tried and did not appear to have the desired effect[3]. [0] http://ruger.com/products/gunsiteScoutRifle/models.html http://ruger.com/products/gunsiteScoutRifle/models.html [1] http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/itemdetails.asp?item=031001131&cid=031&tid=001 http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/itemdetail... [2] http://www.fnhusa.com/l/products/commercial/autoloading-rifles/fnar-heavy/ http://www.fnhusa.com/l/products/commercial/autoloading-rifl... [3] http://www.sas.upenn.edu/jerrylee/research/aw_final2004.pdf http://www.sas.upenn.edu/jerrylee/research/aw_final2004.pdf