October 30th, 2024.
Today I want to talk about the term, “weapon of war.” I hear politicians use this term to encompass the entirety of what the AR platform is. This term has been coined to scare and intimidate the general public into believing that the only reason an AR-15 or AR-10 exists is to kill people quickly or to be used in times of war. I want to take the opportunity to correct this misconception. The AR platform was designed and marketed originally to the military as a lighter and cheaper alternative to arming our military. Eventually, the military did adopt an early variation of the AR platform to be used in combat. These variations included a full auto, and even burst selector option that allowed our military personnel to fire rapidly during an immediate threat or attack. Years later, the makers of the AR platform redesigned the AR platform to remove the automatic option and make the firearm semiautomatic only. This meant that they could market to the public citizens and law enforcement. The only thing that remained remotely the same was the appearance of the firearm, and even that has changed over many years. The so called “weapons of war” remain weapons of war. The AR platforms that are sold to the general public, outside of the NFA regulated AR platforms, are not “weapons of war” but are actually “weapons of the citizens!” -Patrick Wright