Vai the Atlantic: The Rifle That Ruined America
Written by Ryan Busse who is a senior policy adviser to the gun-control advocacy group Giffards.
Amazingly enough that’s what they tell you about the author. They correctly describe Giffards.
According to Ryan, 20 years ago nobody bought AR-15 style weapons. (I should check mine, I’m sure it was made after 1986 and prior to 1999) And only a few companies were making AR-15 platforms. (Maybe because the government was standing on the scales of economics)
And he was out there working hard to keep evil AR-15s out of the gun culture.
Up until about 2006, only a handful of companies were making AR-15s. They were outliers, producing rifles mainly for law enforcement and the military, and in the domestic commercial market AR-15s accounted for just a fraction of total gun sales, which averaged from 6 million to 8 million guns a year. The social norms that governed gun ownership and the firearms industry were clear: Assault rifles and tactical gear were a creepy, fringe interest that had no place in a complex democratic society.
Got that, tactical gear was creepy. If you had to dress like a FUDD to be able to fit in with gun culture.
And even though the intent was to ban all AR-15s, it never really happened, so you can ignore the AWB of 1994. Which implies you can ignore the fact that there was no change in crime statistics that can be directly tied to the 1994 AWB.
Ryan is proud that he fought to keep tactical equipment out of the marketplace, because tactical equipment is dangerous.
I was looking at a Winchester ’94 with saddle ring. That saddle ring was “tactical” for its time. The sling points on my hundred year old (plus) rifles were tactical. The reproduction ammo pouches were tactical. But for Ryan having a vest that holds spare magazines and an IFAK is just to dangerous.
The thing to note is that this article is well written. Articulate. It sounds calm and reasoned. But it includes biased statements that make it easy to make assumptions. “NRA leadership held closed-door business meetings” The implication is that they were secret meetings. The NRA convention wasn’t canceled after Columbine. Never mind that the convention is also the annual meeting that is required. The NRA decided to be aggressive instead of conciliatory in their messaging and stance.
Remember, when some criminal does criminal things over there, you should surrender over here.
And then we get to the kicker, Firearm manufacturers use irresponsible marketing.
At one time pieces of paper were critical parts of the most sophisticated firearm systems on the planet. Can’t wait for him to call for banning them as “tactical gear”.
The reason more companies make AR pattern rifles is because they are MORE popular NOW than “years” ago. I dont care what some America hating fuktard thinks, writes, or prints. Come. And. Take. It
So, Is Young Einstein telling me that the AR-15 (“obviously it’s an assault rifle: it’s part of it’s name!”, said one clue-free interlocutor of mine, some time ago)
So, the AR-15 is why Jhiao Bribem is pResident?
So many things become clear, now!
I purchased an AR-15 in 1975, my first firearm, at 20 years old. In the intervening near half century, I’ve managed to not discharge it at anyone. BTW, the Illinois city I lived in at the time, had a city law that prohibited sale of that rifle to those less than 21 years of age. There was this gun store just a couple 100 yards outside the “city”. No problemo!
That article was doing just fine until the prescriptive part came at the end. I remain impressed that Americans are making entirely discretionary purchases of 20 million firearms a year and a largish percentage of AR-15 pattern. I consider that fact far more significant than the bleatings of any politician or columnist. Those folks need to consider that voting with dollars is really putting your money where your mind is.
I own a couple of AR style weapons. The author gets one thing right, though he doesn’t say it outright. The “problem” with ARs is not their lethality, their ammo, their rate of fire, the size of their magazines, etc. The problem with the AR is that owning it is a political statement. There is no real task that an AR is “best” at, really. For hunting, I prefer a .308 or .30-30. For plinking and varmints, I prefer my M1 carbine or a .22. For self-defense, I own shotguns and pistols. Oh, sure, there are plenty of folk who like to tweak their ARs with fancy addons, etc. and that’s a fine hobby. But most people don’t, in my experience. It’s a convenient weapon that isn’t all that good at any one thing, but isn’t all that bad at any one thing..
But really, I own ARs to piss gun grabbers off, because they are *symbolic* of gun rights. Gun grabbers hate ARs because they are symbols of gun ownership for the sake of gun ownership. I own ARs *because I can* and because it pisses people like Ryan Busse off. No more, no less. And it drives them crazy not because it’s such a horrible weapon, but because it’s the gun that says “screw you” to gun grabbers. It’s unapologetic gun ownership without the “excuse” of hunting, home defense, etc. And that kind of liberty enrages them.
Heh. I just bought a Carcano 1938 TS – you may be familiar with the rifle when thinking about Kennedy. That rifle was designed in 1891.
You know they are coming for other guns as soon as they succeed in demonizing on rifle.
Listen to the language morph. Horrible switch blade became Saturday night special which became assault rifle which became assault weapon which became semi-automatic military style weapon which is rapidly beginning military style weapon.
To you and I they are all scare tactics. But since most weapons have some relationship to the military it allows almost any weapon to vilified.
Any pistol with a tilting barrel is based on the M1911 so they get banned. Same with most semi-auto and bolt action. Since they tried to sell lever action to the army and in guessing the army bought a few there goes lever action rifles.
The goal is not to communicate clearly but to have words and phrases that everybody understands to mean just one thing which might not be close to what is actual says by the words and phrases.
I wonder if the AWB actually increased interest in the AR platform?
.
Unlike most folks, the gun culture will go out and buy more of a gun if there is a threat of a ban and confiscation, not less. If pResident FJB decides he wants to outlaw ownership of ARs (meaning you cannot really use them at a public range, just in case…) demand skyrockets. For something that will essentially live in your gun safe until any ban is lifted. Weird, but demonstrating that gun ownership is as much of a political statement as anything else.