And so are all the other languages I am familiar with. CONTEXT is vital.
Firearms are weapons, as a class, but are also only weapons when used as such.
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A given firearms actual use over it's individual life or at any specific moment is irrelevant.
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This, I disagree with. Simply because it is too broad.
Is a butterknife a weapon? After all, its just a small sword....
It is a weapon, when used as such, and people have been killed with them, BUT, we don't generally consider it a weapon, except when used as such.
Guns, as a class, can be fairly called weapons, but to me, any individual gun is only a weapon when used that way.
And note the language used in the 2nd Amendment..not guns, not weapons, ARMS. This, of course, includes guns, but it also includes other things as well.
A bow and arrow is a weapon too, right? but today, we seldom think of it as such. Its not just about semantics, but about the perception specific words engender.
Personally, while, under certain circumstances I have no issue with the term "weapon", I dislike hearing people use the terms "platform" and "operator" and such, and the word "tactical" has been so misused as to almost lose all meaning.