To the Editor:
The AR-15 is a common-use, civilian rifle. This is the very spirit of the Second Amendment. The attempt to legislate a ban on AR-15s is an attempt to, effectively, repeal the Second Amendment.
The proper response is to vote out any lawmaker or politician that attempts to repeal this fundamental, Constitutional right; it represents a betrayal of the promise to protect and preserve the Constitution of the United States.
On a practical level, the argument to ban the AR-15 platform is quite weak. In 2020, from FBI statistics, about 318 people were killed with rifles of all kinds (not just AR-15s). In a country of 350,000,000 people, with more than 20,000,000 AR-15s in circulation, that number is amazingly low.
For comparison, in 2020, 415 people were killed by hands and feet; and 877 people were killed by knives. The majority of murders were by handguns. Therefore, the hyperfocus and justification to outlaw AR-15s doesn’t play out in real life.
The AR-15 is the most proper exercise of the Second Amendment and it should be vigorously defended.
Brent Kaseman
Philomath