Today we present the last of our gun reform proposals, and it is probably the most controversial of them all.
The sale of AR and AR-style rifles should be limited, if not outright banned.
We say this with the understanding that “AR” does not mean “assault rifle” or “automatic rifle,” but rather “ArmaLite rifle,” a specific brand. “AR-style” or “Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR)” refers to semiautomatic rifles that resemble the ArmaLite rifle. We also acknowledge that ARs and AR-style guns can look like anything from a traditional hunting rifle (but with a larger magazine) to beefed-up military-grade weapons, depending on the accessories used.
We acknowledge that automatic weapons (multiple bullets per one trigger pull) are largely banned in the U.S. However — there are more than 630,000 automatic weapons that are available for civilian use. Automatic weapons made before 1986 were grandfathered in and therefore made exempt from the federal automatic weapons ban. These can still be bought and sold. In addition, members of the military, police and licensed dealers are permitted to own and use automatic weapons made after 1986.
But “largely banned” is not enough. All automatic guns should be outlawed and removed from circulation.
ARs and AR-style semiautomatic rifles are highly prized for their customization — and it’s not uncommon to see one tricked out to look like their automatic military counterparts. ARs and AR-style rifles can be outfitted with everything from high-capacity magazines to bayonets to lasers to scopes to grenade launchers. Some states have already banned certain customization features. For example, New York outlawed second handgrips (for the non-shooting hand), folding or telescoping stocks, flash suppressors, threaded barrels and more — including the grenade launcher.
Up until 2019, after the Las Vegas shooting, semiautomatic ARs could be made automatic with bump stocks, but those have since been banned. As such, we would also like to acknowledge that semiautomatic guns can only fire as fast as the user can pull the trigger and only as many rounds as the magazine holds.
But that’s the problem. ARs and AR-style rifles can be customized until they are just shy of being their war-zone counterparts. And, these weapons can self-load or autoload: As one bullet is fired, the gun automatically ejects the spent cartridge and loads a new one from the magazine. For their part, magazines hold anywhere from 10 to 100 rounds and are easy to switch out. This means a shooter can reasonably get off 60 rounds in 60 seconds.
Bolt action rifles, however, are manual reloads, tend to hold fewer rounds and don’t shoot as quickly. These may be what the majority of non-gun-enthusiasts picture when someone mentions a hunting rifle. Target Tamers did a side-by-side comparison of an AR-15 and a bolt-action rifle, and there is nothing an AR can do in hunting that a bolt-action rifle can’t do too, if not better. So even though many hunters like ARs and AR-style rifles, they are not the only option for hunting — but they are the go-to choice for mass shooters.
With a bolt action rifle, as explained by the organization “I Am Hunter,” loading a cartridge into the chamber “is done by pulling the action (bolt) back. This simultaneously ejects any spent cartridge and moves a fresh cartridge from the magazine to the read position. Pushing the action forward inserts the cartridge into the chamber. The final movement of the bolt to close the action pushes the firing pin back and holds it in place under spring tension.”
An experienced user can do this quickly, but not as quickly as an autoloading rifle can on its own. When a few seconds can mean the difference between 60 people dead and 40 people dead, those seconds become precious indeed. Which is why we must seriously consider limiting and regulating the sale and ownership semiautomatic rifles.
