An Old Refrain is Gaining Traction

I remember being told years ago that if assault rifles were banned, my semi-automatic shotgun would be next.

It was meant to scare me into joining the fight against gun control even though I didn’t understand why most folks needed a military-style weapon in the first place. I still don’t.

But I’m apparently in the minority.

It used to be that the majority of gun owners were hunters or folks who kept a handgun for “home security.” While military weapons were coveted by collectors, they weren’t the choice of the hunting public unless they were “sporterized,” or modified to make them more efficient for harvesting game. I killed my first deer with a modified Springfield Model 1903A3.

These days, however, military-style weapons are prized by the public for being just what they were designed for — killing people. Gun shops and sporting goods stores typically feature more semi-automatic “black rifles,” than sporting arms.

A few months ago the vacant building across the street from my home in Malta sold to some folks who promptly ran three flags up the flagpole: an upside-down American flag, another featuring crossed AR-15s, and a third that was undecipherable.

Life in the former Odd Fellows Hall must have suited the new residents because a few days after moving in they righted the upside-down American flag — a sign of distress — and removed the undecipherable banner.

But the flag with the crossed AR-15s continues to fly.

I doubt the assault rifles these folks covet are extremely accurate match-grade weapons used in competition shooting. There’s a better chance their rifles are cheap knock-offs fitted with bump stocks making them fully automatic.

Accuracy isn’t a priority. Volume is.

The recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump is a fine example of long-distance flock shooting with an AR.

In 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald used a mail-order, bolt-action rifle to kill JFK. Shortly thereafter, the sale of firearms through the mail is banned.

In 2024, some kid borrows his dad’s assault rifle and tries to kill a former president. Nothing is banned. Nothing is done.

Candidates for political office tout their stellar ratings from the NRA and warn me to get on board or someone, somehow is going to take my shotgun.

It’s an old refrain that for no good reason is gaining traction.

Again.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]