# Why Does Anyone Need an AR-15?



## QFK (Aug 27, 2008)

I've heard this question come up a lot in the news so I decided to write an article about my views on the topic. I am a strong supporter of firearm ownership regardless of make, model, or action type. Apparently the new assault weapon bill will be introduced Thursday, January 24th. Good luck.


http://real-hunting.com/why-does-anyone-need-an-ar-15/


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## KalamazooKid (Jun 20, 2005)

Because I can ......... should be the end of discussion.


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## birdshooter (Jan 7, 2006)

very good read thanks


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## Rasputin (Jan 13, 2009)

"Need" is such a funny word. It shouldn't be relevant when talking about liberties.


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## FredBearYooper (Oct 5, 2009)

Why does everyone "need" a car that goes 120 when we can only go 70?


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## EdB (Feb 28, 2002)

Great write up, thanks for sharing.

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## QFK (Aug 27, 2008)

Rasputin said:


> "Need" is such a funny word. It shouldn't be relevant when talking about liberties.


Well said.


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## downrange (Dec 25, 2010)

To protect myself from tyranny in government. 


Sometimes life is greasy.


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## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

Apparently nobody learned a thing from the Taliban and 9-11 by the way what is the choice firearm of the Taliban? I guess that covers it all.


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## fish_AK (Nov 10, 2009)

Wow! That was a great read! Great article Sir.


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## whitetailassassin (Oct 16, 2012)

Thanks for posting, great article.


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## Rootsy (Nov 1, 2006)

Because I can't afford an M16 or an RDIAS and all of Uncle Sam's children have select fire weapons...


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## ezcaller (Feb 21, 2009)

nicely done.


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## cedarlkDJ (Sep 2, 2002)

Good write QFK!!!...not to diminish but, here is another I read the other day.

By Jorge Amselle

Sadly, so called assault rifles are getting a lot of negative press lately and are being subjected to a great deal of misinformation. This is not just coming from the usual anti-gun crowd, whom one would expect to lack knowledge about firearms and how they function, but also from supposedly knowledgeable gun owners and hunters, some of whom favor reasonable controls on firearms freedoms. Here are a few of the fallacies.

Why do you need that?

I need an AR primarily for self defense. Could I use another gun for self defense? Of course I could and the AR may not be the best firearm to use in all defensive situations. I could use a shotgun or a pistol, I could use a baseball bat or a knife, I could use a tennis racket, a golf club, my bare hands, or I could just try playing possum.

It is not a question of what I use to defend myself but my right and desire to have the best possible tool for the job at my disposal. I want a semi-automatic rifle with an adequate capacity magazine for the same reason the police want them; to be able to quickly and accurately engage multiple assailants should the need arise.

The caliber is too weak to use for hunting. 

The AR is traditionally chambered in the 5.56x45mm NATO (interchangeable with the .223 Remington caliber) cartridge. The U.S. Military has been using this round as their primary rifle caliber for 50 years, through many wars and other interventions. If it was not effective we would not still have it. As with any firearm, the weight and type of bullet can be easily changed to deliver better performance and while not all loadings may be ideal for hunting, many are used on deer, feral hogs, coyote, and other game animals.

That does not even include the fact that the AR is the single most versatile rifle available. It can be converted to a muzzle loader for black powder, a crossbow for archery hunting, an air rifle, and can be adapted to fire over a dozen different rifle and pistol calibers. The design makes it easy to install optics and scopes, the collapsible stock allows the length to be adjusted so different statured shooters can comfortably use the same rifle. All of these features are why it is so popular.

It is not suitable for home defense. 

Some have argued that a 5.56mm AR is bad for home defense because the round will over penetrate and pass through walls, endangering other occupants or neighbors. Tell that to police SWAT team that are increasingly switching from 9mm (pistol caliber) sub-machineguns to 5.56mm ARs exactly because they over penetrate less than the 9mm especially with proper ammunition selection. If over penetration is a serious concern then use a shotgun with bird shot. At close ranges this can be extremely effective. Others argue that a long gun is too unwieldy for home defense and going around corners. Ironically a shotgun has long been considered an ideal home defense firearm, not to mention that hunting down home intruders is not really advisable anyways. Better to barricade yourself and call the police.

These guns are too dangerous for people to own. 

Ignoring the fact that semi-automatic rifles are used to commit only a tiny fraction of all gun crimes and that gun crimes overall have been declining for the past 20 years, the AR and other similar rifles are no more dangerous than any other firearm. The AR is semi-automatic and fires once each time the trigger is depressed, like a double-action revolver, or any pistol, or many other rifles and shotguns.

If you believe that the AR is too dangerous to own then there is no rational limit to what firearms you will find too dangerous next. Politicians have attacked firearms as too dangerous because they are too small and easy to conceal, too cheap and easy for poor people to buy, too accurate and usable and sniper weapons, too powerful and usable against vehicles. The list of too dangerous can easily be expanded to cover most any firearm and making every firearm too dangerous is exactly the real agenda.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/09/the-ar-15-you-dont-need-one-and-they-are-too-dangerous-to-own/


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## Patman75 (Jan 11, 2012)

Well Done.


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## michhutr (Jan 16, 2009)

fish_ak said:


> wow! That was a great read! Great article sir.


 
ditto


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## FredBearYooper (Oct 5, 2009)

Robert Holmes said:


> Apparently nobody learned a thing from the Taliban and 9-11 by the way what is the choice firearm of the Taliban? I guess that covers it all.


That's because of the russians.

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## dooman (Dec 18, 2009)

QFK, that should be submitted to as many newspaper opinion pages as possible, very well written.


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## ENCORE (Sep 19, 2005)

dooman said:


> QFK, that should be submitted to as many newspaper opinion pages as possible, very well written.
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


 


http://www.thealpenanews.com/


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## WoW. (Aug 11, 2011)

Because the Department of Homeland Security said so.

http://radioviceonline.com/departme...rt-rifle-ar-15-suitable-for-personal-defense/

Personal Defense


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## QFK (Aug 27, 2008)

Thank you for all the positive comments. One reader asked me if he could submit the article to a local newspaper. Yes. If anyone wants to reuse this in any way feel free as long as my name stays attached as the author. If you want to repost to a website please also link to the original.


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## chefdaddy2472 (Sep 5, 2012)

Thanks, excellent read, nice job


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## bowhuntordie (Mar 24, 2007)

Very nice article, glad I took the time to read it! thank you!


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## cr85rider953 (Oct 11, 2010)

Great Read!! Very well said.


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## COHORST1 (Mar 30, 2009)

*Great Article. Thank You,* Because it looks like the Goverment can not protect my kids and grandkids or Property!! But the Second Amendment Has given me the Right too.


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## wadevb1 (Mar 25, 2008)

Its just another semi-automatic rifle.


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## Niles Coyote (Jul 22, 2009)

Why... inailiable rights by definition require no justification, what other right would you have licensed and controlled? 

Something else to keep in mind. 

At the time of its inclusion in the Bill of Rights the government was already outgunned by the citizenry yet the Founding Fathers felt that the Second Amendment was not a threat to society but a guarantor of all that makes the US Constitution such an important and unique document. Civilians for the most part owned rifled muskets that were the ultimate in technology of the day while our small standing military was equipped with smoothbore muskets that required volley fire in hopes of attaining any casualties at anyone down range.


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## Bobby (Dec 21, 2002)

COHORST1 said:


> *Great Article. Thank You,* Because it looks like the Goverment can not protect my kids and grandkids or Property!! But the Second Amendment Has given me the Right too.


Just to clarify, and this a very critical point.
The constitution, the government, does not 'give' rights. Rights do not emanate from governemnt. They are inalienable, they derive from our creator. The mere fact that you exist confers individual rights. The constitution does not limit the rights of individuals, it limits the intrusion of the federal government in the individuals life. This may seem subtle but it is a very important point.
The 2A has acknowledged that this very specific right exists and they are obligated to protect this right.


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## nathanrogers (Oct 29, 2011)

Great read!

Politically correct? Probably not, but funny nonetheless s


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## davido (Feb 2, 2009)

This was a post in the Sound off forums that linked to a video of a gentlemen who was present at the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China. This is video of his speech from last week at the Massachusetts State House. 
_http://www.youtube.com/embed/miEmIfhfxuc_

_Text for those who don't want to watch. _ 

_The past Monday I decided to visit the Minuteman Park in Lexington and pay tribute to Captain John Parker and his fellow minutemen. A thought came to my mind,_* that the founding fathers of the United States and Chairman Mao had one thing in common: they all realized that guns are important political instruments.*_ Their similarities, however, ended there: _

*Chairman Mao wrote: Political power grows out of barrel of a gun, and he dictated: The party shall command the gun*_. James Madison and his compatriots, however, believing that the power of the state is derived from the consent of the governed, ratified that the right to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. _

_*23 years ago, I was a college freshman exercising my freedom of speech and assembly in Tiananmen Square*, much like we are doing here today. We grew frustrated by the restriction of personal freedoms and the corrupted Chinese government, and *we thought peaceful protest would make the country better. Our young passion and patriotism was crushed by hails of full metal jackets out of AK47s.* (Some AK purists here would argue they were really type 56s). We could not fight back, because we did not have an inch of iron in our hands, to borrow a Chinese expression: we were unarmed. _

_Gun owners like us often say: the Second Amendment is the protector against a tyrannical government. Some may argument that a man with a rifle is no match to the military machines of today, so such beliefs are no longer relevant. However, 20 million peaceful Beijing citizens in 1989, sure wished that they had a few million rifles in their hands! _

_Freedom is not free. Liberty has costs. We recognize that in this free society, criminals or mentally deranged could get weapons and murder the innocents. *The answer, however, is not to disarm the law abiding citizens. Not only criminals and the deranged will violate the laws anyway, but more importantly, when a government turns criminal, when a government turns deranged, the body count will not be five, ten or twenty, but hundreds, like in Tiananmen Square, or millions, counted in the 90-year history of the Chinese Communist Party. *_

_Our constitutional republic may look fuzzy and loving today (if you think so, Ive got a TSA agent you should meet), but keep in mind that absolute power corrupts absolutely! And when a government has monopoly on guns, it has absolute power! _

_*Do you know that the Chinese Constitution guarantees almost all the nice things we have here?* It is written that Chinese citizens enjoy freedom of speech and religion, they have human and property rights, *and that such rights cannot be taken away without due process of the law. And do you know what? Chinese people do not have the right to keep and bear arms. I assure you all those nice guarantees, are not worth the paper they are printed on,* because when the government has all the guns, they have all the rights. _

_I was not born a citizen of the United States, *I was naturalized in 2007. In 2008, I became a proud gun owner. To me, a rifle is not for sporting or hunting, it is an instrument of freedom. It guarantees that I cannot be coerced, that I have free will, and that I am a free man. *_

_Now suppose the 20 million Beijing citizens had had a few million rifles, how many rounds should they have been ALLOWED to load into their magazines? 10? 7? How about 3? _

_Never, never, never give up the fight, my friends. *It may be a small step that you give up your rifle, or a 30-round magazine, but it will be a giant leap in the destruction of this great republic. *_

_In closing I will quote the words of Captain John Parker: "Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon. But if they want to have a war, let it begin here."_


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## john warren (Jan 25, 2005)

wonder if the libs would be ok with just outlawing everything we simply don't need?
think they might balk when they get to the part where if your not making a baby you don't "need" to have sex?:SHOCKED:


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## WoW. (Aug 11, 2011)

http://www.csoc.org/ppdocs/GunControlLegislation.pdf


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## TaggedOut904 (Nov 1, 2012)

Really good read. Thank you, and I hope this gets posted in many newspapers and more websites


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## Patman75 (Jan 11, 2012)

WoW. said:


> http://www.csoc.org/ppdocs/GunControlLegislation.pdf


Nice.


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## Abolt (Mar 11, 2011)

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## Ranger Ray (Mar 2, 2003)

Because of governments like this: (be sure to watch video also)

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/01/2...o-stop-doing-business-with-gun-manufacturers/


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