Does anyone know whether or not Adam Lanza used an "assault rifle" in the killings?

I'm not sure of that. I am sure that he did not fire 100 rounds/minute to kill those children. He fired one shot at time for 10 minutes to kill those kids. Those poor teachers and staff had to hide, listen to tragedy unfold,and wait for the police. When the killer heard that first responders were coming in, he killed himself, and the killing ended. Thinking people should demand that our Great National Debate be about training and arming the teachers and staff of these "gun free" zones.

No. You might think so, given the number of news sources that have referred to it as such, but the answer is definitely "no".

An "assault rifle" is a select-fire weapon, capable of firing in single-shot or automatic fire mode. The Bushmaster .223 is a semiautomatic weapon; it cannot fire in automatic mode. You must pull the trigger one time for each bullet fired. If it had an automatic fire mode (multiple bullets for one trigger pull), it would be illegal for most people in this country to have one.

The term "assault rifle" should not be confused with "assault weapon", which is a rather fuzzy term that has been used with the federal "assault weapons ban" and various state laws, that are based mostly on cosmetic features and have nothing to do with the firing capabilities of the weapons banned. It should also be noted that Connecticut has a law that prohibits "assault weapons", but the Bushmaster .223 is not banned by that law.

Yes, he used a Bushmaster .223.

The Beltway sniper used the same weapon.

In the gun control sense of the word, yeah. It had a pistol grip and a high capacity magazine.

THe evidence points to that. and the irony: mother bought him the guns and he gunned her down. I wonder if she had time to reflect on that as she faced death. More people and children will be killed while Americans love their assault weapons more than they love their children.

40,000 dead and near 100,000 wounded or crippled.