Another groundhog argument
My 2p is: Leo called it a bass 'guitar' on his patent application. I see no reason to argue with the man who developed our modern instrument.
Added to which, 'bass' is its voice. If you told an orchestral musician that you played 'bass', he'd say "Bass [i]what[/i]? Clarinet? Saxophone?"
The term 'electric bass' doesn't work because I also have an acoustic bass (a guitar as opposed to a bass viol)
So personally, I am a bass guitarist.
As stated, this is just my 2p and YMMV.