Let's Talk About ARs

There is lots of bad information going around about the ever-demonized AR15, which I like to call America's Rifle.  I was reading an article today in Rolling Stone, which purports to tell us everything we need to know about the AR15 and the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that sunseted in 2004.  Lots of liberal talking points there, but those of us who know our business can call bullshit on most of it.

Before we begin, you might recall that Rolling Stone magazine is the same magazine that published the infamous article about the UVA rape case back in 2014.  Thoroughly discredited from opening paragraph to ending paragraph, that particular article is upheld as a testament to journalistic malpractice.  Anyone who considers Rolling Stone serious journalism is either demented or confused, so we'll consider the source here.

This one paragraph in the newer article I was reading caught my eye.  Let's take it apart, piece by piece, shall we?

Semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 were, at one time, banned nationwide. The 1994 federal assault weapons ban prohibited most versions of the rifle from being sold in the U.S. The gun re-entered circulation after Congress allowed the ban to expire in 2004. Subsequent efforts to renew the ban, or create other legislation that would limit assault weapons, have been unsuccessful.

Funny thing about the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons ban. I didn't find that it banned many guns, and it certainly didn't ban America's Rifle.  I know that because I bought one, perfectly legally, in 2003.  I remember it plainly.  In February, 2003 I was working in the jail on the evening that two good police officers were killed in Alexandria, LA.  It was an horrific event that rocked the community, and I don't want to dwell on it except to reinforce my timeline.

In April, 2003, I learned that I would be going to training for a new assignment.  Out of the jail, on the street, working with our most vulnerable citizens.  If I needed help, it would be coming, but I'd be on my own for several minutes.  I decided that I needed to give myself, and the citizens under my charge, the best opportunity to survive those several minutes.

So, shortly after I got my paycheck, probably about May 1, 2003 I went down to the local gun shop (in blue jeans and tennis shoes) and bought myself an AR-15.  I simply walked up the counter in my jeans and told the guy to bring me a new-in-box Bushmaster.  I filled out the form, passed the background check, and walked away with my rifle under my arm.  This was during the Assault Weapons Ban.  In 2003.  Before the law sunseted in 2004.  Let's see if we can find it?

Yep, that's it, a Bushmaster XM15E2S, bought totally legally during the ban.  Another blogger of some note, Tam, has noticed the same thing.  As she says:

And what I have is a tiny fraction of an electron in one atom in a water molecule of a drop in the civilian-owned AR15 bucket. Conservative estimates have the number of these things in circulation as closer to ten million than five. The horse is well and truly out of the barn.

Tam's right.  The horse is well and truly out of the barn.  Liberal media, and liberal politicians will try to placate us and offer platitudes to make us feel better.   The simple fact is that the Assault Weapons ban did nothing.  The AR-15 is America's Rifle.  The vast majority of them in civilian hands are not registered, because in the vast majority of jurisdictions in the US, there is no gun registration scheme.

Anyone that tells you that America's Rifle was banned from 994 to 2004 is obviously in denial, confused, or lying to you, as I've easily shown here.  AR-15s were bought, sold, and traded legally during that entire time.  The law didn't amount to a bucket of warm spit, but it made the anti-gunners feel good.  Which is why it was allowed to expire in 2004.

Oh, and that AR-15 used in the Orlando shooting?  It wan't.