A wound in the arm or the leg can still be life threatening. There have been cases where young people have died from wounds to the leg because their artery was severed. An injury might look small, but any internal damage can kill. Our website uses cookies to improve your experience.
Browser does not support script. Live Chat Support Software. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Once again, there has been a mass shooting involving a gun that looks like an AR It's technically a Sig Sauer MCX, which may or may not be an "AR" … more later on this definitional issue and why it actually matters beyond mere neckbeard pedantry.
And, once again, the calls have gone out to ban the "black rifle" from civilian sales. Yet if the statistics from the National Shooting Sports Federation can be believed, some 5 million Americans and counting have decided that they do, in fact, "need" an AR — or, more likely, they determined that they wanted one, so they bought it.
I'm one of those 5 million. I've owned an AR for four years, and I use it for varmint control on my acre Texas estate. Are people like me bloodthirsty savages? Delusional survivalists? Military fetishists? Insecure men with tiny … hands?
If you're prepared to answer "yes" to all of the above and consider the case closed, then please move on and don't read anymore. This article isn't my attempt to justify anything to you — it's not a defense of what's in my gun safe or of the AR itself.
If, for you, my AR ownership is prima facie evidence of my mental instability, sexual inadequacy , lack of a conscience, or what-have-you, then I honestly don't care what you think about this issue. You can go back to broadcasting your own moral superiority on social media, and I can go back to tuning you out until your rage therapy session is over. No, this article is for the genuinely curious — those who assume that 5 million of their fellow Americans are not inhuman or insane, and who want to understand what set of rationales, no matter how flawed and confused they may ultimately turn out to be, could make an otherwise normal person walk out of a gun store with an "assault weapon.
By the end of this piece, you probably still will not believe that I or any other civilian actually needs an AR That's fine — I wasn't really out to change your mind on that score anyway. I get that you still believe that no civilian should have such a gun. My only hope is that you'll go forth better equipped to talk about gun control based on an understanding of how real live people view and use these firearms. Note: Before I get started, if you're like Rep. Alan Grayson or Sen.
Bernie Sanders , both of whom I admire greatly and neither of whom seems to know the difference between a fully automatic weapon and a semiautomatic weapon, then we should get something straight before going any further: The AR is not an "automatic weapon. In contrast, the AR's military sibling, the M16, is capable of fully automatic fire, which means that the gun will keep spitting out bullets as long as the trigger is pressed and the magazine is loaded.
The AR was originally designed as a weapon of war, for man-killing and not for hunting or for target shooting — this is an obvious fact. But this is also true of most popular firearms throughout history, including your grandpa's lever action hunting rifle. The vintage Henry lever action rifle — the quintessential 20th century deer rifle — was originally deployed to devastating effect in the Civil War.
With its high capacity, rapid rate of fire, and popularity with soldiers and civilians alike, the Henry was the AR of its day, and it was followed over the years by the invention of the even more effective semiautomatic firearm, and then by a succession of long guns that we now generally take to be suitable for civilian use.
The AR, the gun behind some of the worst mass shootings in America, explained. My point in bringing up the lever action rifle is that civilians have been buying "weapons of war" for a very long time, since the black powder musket days.
This is partly because soldiers who come home from wars to enter civilian life often want to buy a version of the weapon they were trained on and trusted their life to. And it's also because "military grade" is widely if sometimes mistakenly understood to mean "this technology has been tested in the real world, the kinks have been worked out, and its reliability and effectiveness have been proven in the field by an entity with the resources of an entire nation at its disposal.
Thus it is that since the dawn of the gunpowder age, gun buyers have snapped up military hardware, because that is often the very best hardware they can get their hands on. The more firearms there are in a country whether for self-defense, concealed carry, or recreational use , the higher the incidence of gun violence. Even after controlling for other factors like income, crime levels, and demographics, many studies over the last decade confirm this conclusion.
Chan School of Public Health, believes contributes to the higher rates of gun-related homicide in America compared with other industrialized nations. The prevalence of guns in the community means incidents like robbery and other crimes are more likely to carry the risk of gun violence.
In short, gun ownership does not increase safety, and the prevalence of guns directly correlates with significantly greater risk of gun-related homicides and suicides.
While the facts surrounding the safety of having a gun in the home are clear, the choice to own a gun is more complicated for many homeowners. Be aware that the safest way to protect your home is to focus on buying the best home security system , and leave the firearms to law enforcement.
If you do own guns, you can reduce the risk of unintentional shootings and other types of gun violence by storing your firearm in a gun safe or home safe. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. SafeWise uses paid Amazon links. About Contact Press Blog.
This is not a guarantee. SafeWise is an independent review site. We may earn money when you click links on our site. Learn more. Smart Home FAQ. Among Democrats, there are modest gaps on gun policies by gun ownership.
For instance, while majorities of Democratic gun owners and non-owners both favor banning assault-style weapons and banning high-capacity magazines, Democratic gun owners are about 20 percentage points less likely to say this. Americans in rural areas typically favor more expansive gun access, while Americans in urban places prefer more restrictive policies, according to the April survey.
Even though rural areas tend to be more Republican and urban communities more Democratic , this pattern holds true even within each political party. Democrats favor more gun restrictions regardless of where they live , but there are still some differences by community type.
Say "Alexa, enable the Pew Research Center flash briefing". It organizes the public into nine distinct groups, based on an analysis of their attitudes and values. Even in a polarized era, the survey reveals deep divisions in both partisan coalitions.
Use this tool to compare the groups on some key topics and their demographics. Pew Research Center now uses as the last birth year for Millennials in our work. President Michael Dimock explains why. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.
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