Robert Hawkins SKS Assault Rifle

An SKS is not an assault rifle. Assault rifles are fully-automatic (think machine gun). An SKS is a semi-automatic weapon. Only one bullet is fired for each pull of the trigger.

I heard on the news that he may have stolen it from a family member. The SKS is a popular sporting rifle. It's used by many hunters.

 As for how he hid it, I'm not sure. Maybe it had a folding stock, he could have stashed it in the backpack that I heard he had. Or maybe he somehow hid it in a coat.

In fact, this is an assault weapon. A weapon does not have to be fully automatic to be considered an assault weapon. It was designed for Soviet military use. Its semi-automatic function makes it ideal for shooting multiple targets at range and fires the same round as an AK-47. This particular weapon WAS illegal to sell under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that the Republican-controlled congress allowed to expire. The combination of the magazine capacity, bayonet mount, and flash suppressor are all indicative of the assault nature of the weapon. 

We don't know if the photo shown above and on the news site is the actual murder weapon itself, or a stock photo. The variants of this rifle are visually very different, and I won't be surprised if the actual rifle is a more modern variant using composite materials. Needless to say, this is an assault weapon that SHOULD be illegal. One does not need 30-round magazine capacity to hunt.

Lisa,

Short answer: Assault weapons aren't illegal. 

Omaha Police this morning said for the record that the weapon was an AK-47 variant, but other news media is still reporting it as an SKS. There's obviously some confusion about the model, but both of these assault weapons are technically legal, since the Federal Assault Weapons ban was allowed to expire in 2004. Expect plenty of disinformation and reactionary idiocy coming out of the gun-nut crowd.

Remember that the term "assault weapon" was created by legislators, therefore those attempting to avoid whatever bias is inherent there do not recognize the phrase as an actual nomenclature. Assault Rifle is a recognized term in the gun manufacturing business, assault weapon is not.

The SKS is not an assault rifle, although it does fire the same 7.62 x 39 round as the AK-47. However, only fully-automatic firearms can be called assault rifles. The term assault rifle was in the question, so that is what I responded to. Whether it was an assault weapon was not part of the question.

If the actual weapon used "composite materials" it will make the weapon look scarier, but not effect the deadliness to the weapon. Neither would the flash suppressor or bayonet mount, especially in this situation. As for composite materials, I heard one woman say the gun was very large, so I'm inclined to believe that it had its full wooden stock. But as Patrickk brought to our attention, it may have been a semi-automatic variant of the AK-47.

As for reactionary idiocy, all I wished to clear up was that the gun was not fully-automatic. Many hunters use the 7.62 x39 bullet to hunt deer. They use the standard 10-round magazines. If a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines were to take place, I would support it. I would just buy a few before the ban took place.

Quiggles09:

A rifle is a weapon. An assault rifle is an assault weapon. Its not true that a weapon need be fully-automatic to be considered an assault weapon. An AK-47 variant restricted to semi-auto fire is still an assault weapon, designed to engage multiple targets at range in short time. In fact, competently fired semi-automatic weapons can be deadlier than fully-automatic weapons, which is why 3-shot burst is increasingly favored in military weapons. This is exactly why a Federal Assault Weapons ban is needed. Too many of these cheap Soviet Bloc knock offs can be modified to reduce the trigger pull and increase effective rate of fire. This, combined with the magazine capacity (30) makes the distinction between semi- and fully-automatic negligible. 

And just to be clear, I wasn't referring to your post when I mentioned reactionary idiocy (i.e. concealed carry should be allowed in malls, more guns is the solution, ect). However, I do think you are wrong about the reasonable classification of the weapons in question, and are employing a semantic argument. 

Its not true that composite materials don't make a weapon deadlier. They make it lighter to carry, easier to conceal and wield, and allow the shooter to carry more ammunition. The instance of a flash suppressor and bayonet mount put the lie to what this weapon is really for: warfare.

The combination of all of these features and factors make such a weapon a de facto weapon of assault, which is exactly how Hawkins employed it, apparently shooting some at range, firing many rounds. This is exactly why Congress banned such rifles, pistols, and associated accessories, because they constitute a weapon that is not for personal self defense or hunting, but for killing multiple people in short order.