Handguns assault rifles

Typical assaults on military and police personnel involve knives, firearms with both handgun and rifle bullets, and explosive devices that produce blast, fragmentation and heat. Additional attacks may come from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons or enviromnental hazards such as collisions in road traffic accidents and falling masomy. Knives, bullets, fragmentation and blast will be used here as examples. 

Fig. 3,1 A 5. 56 mm modern, high-velocity assault rifle round is shown on the left. Note its slender, elongated shape and sharp, pointed nose. On the right is a short, squat, blunt-nosed 9 mm low-velocity handgun round. (Reproduced with permission from Ryan JM, Biant L. Gunshot wounds and blast injury. In Greaves I, Porter KM (eds) Pre-hospital medicine principles and practice of immediate care. London Arnold, 1999, p. 364.)...

Do the semiautomatic rifles and handguns commonly called assault weapons play a significant part in crime Do such weapons have any legitimate uses ... 

---