The Founding Fathers, AR-15's, and Goals

  Following President Biden's SOTU speech, the topic of banning this, that, and the other firearm has come to the fore once again.  Inevitably, this has brought out the anti gunners tossing out their usual talking points.  I've already covered how it's not guns that are responsible for the increase in gun violence, along with other fallacies.  Because of how inane it was, I refused to waste time on one particular claim, but someone pissed me off on the internet and here we are.  

This particular talking point pertains to "assault weapons" (i.e. AR-15, AK47, etc.).  The argument is that when they penned the Second Amendment, the Founding Fathers couldn't have envisioned something so vile as an AR-15.  The follow on is that they wouldn't approve of such a firearm being available to civilians.  

Anyone who thinks that possesses zero grasp of the Constitution and the history of the Bill of Rights.  The 2nd Amendment protects the rights of the states to maintain militias, for the sole purpose of preventing a tyrannical central government from overreaching. (I already wrote a lengthy entry on the 2nd Amendment; go find it).  Therefore, the Second Amendment specifically applies to weapons of war, whatever they may be.  It's ludicrous to suggest the Founding Fathers would have confined these militias to using muskets, knowing technology improves everything, weapons included.  

With SCOTUS's latest ruling that the 2nd Amendment applies to personal gun ownership, any ban would be unconstitutional and shot down by the corrupt right wing judiciary. 

And in case you've forgotten, the AR-15 isn't used in warfare; the M4 is, with its three round burst capability.

At this point, I'll once again, ask those who want a ban on AR-15's what they're attempting to achieve.  I've previously pointed out how these guns contribute to a very small percentage of firearm related homicides.  In 2021 (2022 data isn't available yet), ALL RIFLES accounted for <600 homicides, so AR-15's would account for considerably fewer.  

What's really important is how many lives you'd save by eliminating the AR and similar rifles.  Here's a quick calculation with some assumptions:

For 2021, ALL rifles were used in 578 homicides 

Being generous, let's say 70% of rifle deaths were associated with AR's - 405

However, it would be disingenous to say none of those homicide would have happened; the murderer would simply choose a different weapon.  I've used a 50% factor to calculate this difference.

Putting that all together, in 2021, there would have been 202 lives saved if AR-15's didn't exist.  

On the mass homicide side of the equation, those firing AR-15's were responsible for 386 homicides, SINCE 1982.  Obviously, some percentage of these murders would have still taken place, just with a different type of firearm.  Using the same 50% factor as above, 193 lives would have been spared, were the AR not available.  Again, this is from 1982 until now.  

Because everyone likes pictures, the two charts below illustrate two things; in what context gun related homicides take place and by which type of firearm.  Now tell me again how assault rifles are killing so many people in mass shootings.

Banning the AR-15 won't move the needle on firearm related homicides, so what are you trying to accomplish?

In conclusion, I'm not unsympathetic to the cause of decreasing gun violence, but as I've said previously, it's abundantly clear some aren't interested in root causes, but attempting to achieve a pipe dream.  Furthermore, such flawed talking points are useless in changing any minds, because they're flawed.

This entry is part of my "Gun Series" that focuses on providing insight into the gun debate and gun violence.  You can find the other entries in the series HERE.  

About the author: Sean R is a recovering conservative who owns a consulting firm specializing in strategic marketing.  He's been a competitive shooter since the early 90's and holds a High Master classification in PPC and a Master classification in USPSA.  Additionally, he's served as an instructor for gun safety and competition courses.  He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his overly vocal white dog, Sadie.