In the spirit of "using words correctly", assault rifles are incredibly tightly regulated by the US federal government and various states. Assault rifles are fu

In the spirit of "using words correctly", assault rifles are incredibly tightly regulated by the US federal government and various states. Assault rifles are fully automatic weapons (technically select-fire) and have not been legally manufactured for sale since 1986 and require a special federal permit. The rifle used by the person in Connecticut was not an assault rifle, but is categorized as an "assault weapon" by the government (essentially a crippled version of an assault rifle or, as others put it, a scary looking version of a basic semiautomatic rifle). The short answer is yes, assault rifles are on a separate registry, but NY states appears to essentially ban both assault rifles and assault weapons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_New_York http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_New_York