AR-15’s and Such

 

AR-15’s and Such

 A demented eighteen-year-old teenager legally bought an AR-15 (Armalite Rifle-15) in Uvalde, Texas, shot up an elementary school, and killed nineteen children and two teachers.  This was truly a national tragedy, on so many levels.  Texas’ easy gun laws were blamed.

 The previous week, another demented eighteen-year-old in New York State travelled 200 miles within the state, also with a legally purchased AR-15 style rifle, and killed ten people in a grocery store.  Another national tragedy.  New York State has among the most draconian gun laws in the country.  It didn’t make any difference.

 Immediately, the calls went out, from Joe Biden, our so-called “president” on down, and from people who don’t have a clue about firearms, - politicizing these tragedies while loved ones were mourning the loss of innocent lives.

 As is usual after these tragic shootings, “the guns did it”, not the nut or the crazy behind the gun, or the societal rot that produced the mind of a mass killer.  The misinformed in our country and their brainwashed followers, don’t blame the root causes of the malaise in our society, they blame the type of gun.

 They don’t blame the erosion of morals and ethics in the country on the drift away from religion and spiritual programs by our young people.

 They don’t blame the mental health crisis caused by replacing “in house” psychiatric care with self-administered psychoactive drugs, and the resultant criminality and homelessness.

 They don’t blame broken homes, drugs or alcohol, or child abuse.  “It’s the gun, particularly the AR-15, that’s responsible”.

 They don’t blame the violence in computer “games” and TV “entertainment”.  “SPLAT!!”, goes the game, as a red blotch appears, and an “atta boy” award point is given, as soon as a kid can hold the controls.

 They don’t blame our “educators”, who stress questions about kids’ gender identity, and who instill a sense of insecurity in our kids.

 They don’t blame the universities, who teach and promote the long refuted revolutionary principles of Marxism.

 They blame an inanimate object, the AR-15, the Armalite Rifle -15, (not the “Assault Rifle=15” or “Army Rifle-15”).

 I trained for the Army, and was in the Army in the 1950’s. (I know, I’m a dinosaur).  We first used Springfield 03 or 03A3 rifles for training, and later M-1 Garand rifles in the active military.  These rifles fired a 30-06 cartridge, with a substantial bullet, accurate to long distances.  It had been used since the early 1900’s.

 The M-14, in 1956-1964 was chambered for the NATO .308 round, and finally came the M-16, the selective fire military predecessor of the AR-15, in 1964, chambered for .223.  So, it was essentially a .22 rifle.

 We knowledgeable shooters, and our Vietnam troops called the original M-16 the “mouse gun”, because of its puny .223 round, compared to the prior 30-06 and ,308 rounds.  There were many problems with the M-16 at first, but it was improved with time, along with the semi-automatic, one-shot-at-a-time AR-15 civilian version.

 What happened to our country?  It’s not the guns, or the AR=15’s.  We’ve always had guns.  Guns are endemic to the American ethos and culture.  We just used them as the tools that they were intended to be, and not against each other, or to enter a school and start killing innocent children, or a grocery store, and start shooting innocent people.

 The AR-15 has become the most popular and ubiquitous singular rifle in the country.  Why? - Because of its accuracy, low recoil, easy re-configuration and relatively low price.  Certainly not because of its efficacy as a mass murder weapon. A recent survey shows that there are nearly 20 million AR-15 style rifles in the country.  The same survey shows that 33 firms manufacture and sell some version of the civilian AR-15.

 A 1994 attempt to ban “assault weapons” aimed at AR-15’s failed miserably because of lack of definition and precision about what the politically coined “assault weapons” were.  The usual liars in our government tell us how this 1994 ban reduced crime in the country, but these are the bald-faced lies that we have come to expect from Joe Biden and his handlers. The actual statistics don’t lie.

 Does anyone in their honest and rational mind think that more restrictive gun laws that penalize legal gun owners are going to prevent another demented, disenfranchised crazy person from getting their hands on an AR-15 (of the 20 million available in the country), or a pistol, or a knife, or a car, and killing more people?

 We have a population of nearly 335 million people, and we have just about as many firearms in the country. (Some say over 400 million firearms).  We need to learn to live with the guns we have.  It would help to keep guns out of the hands of the crazies, but left-wingers talking and bloviating at the issue accomplishes nothing. 

 Many Americans, at least in “fly over country” retain solid American values.  But unfortunately, some younger Americans have been misled, and have lost touch with what America is all about, and enough of these are disenchanted or lawless enough to riot violently in the streets and cause destruction, or to pick up a weapon and go on a shooting spree.

 Ray Gruszecki

May 30, 2022