What Is a Weapon of War?

Another assault weapons ban? All we need is a couple more horrendous shootings, particularly in a school in a Southern state, and maybe a couple of House GOP members will switch their votes and Joe will get what he wants.

The gun-control group leading the charge is promoting the idea that the AR-15 is a ‘weapon of war,’ a term which has never been precisely defined but was used by my friend, the late Tony Scalia, to describe guns that did not merit Constitutional protection when he redefined the 2nd Amendment in 2008.

Since the AR-15 now issued to our military can be set to fire in semi-auto mode (one trigger pull, one shot) it’s pretty difficult to hold onto the idea that this rifle is some kind of ‘sporting’ gun. So, what the gun industry has now done is describe the weapon as a personal, self-defense gun.

Take a look, for instance, at this spiel by a guy who works for the Unites States Concealed Carry Association, which promotes armed, self-defense. Of course, notice that he’s also talking about keeping the gun in your home because it’s not the kind of weapon that can be easily carried around concealed outside the home.

But that’s just a small nuance, which doesn’t in any way detract from the idea that an assault rifle is what you should use if the wrong person comes knocking on the front door. Which will no doubt be the explanation used by the guy who shot a Kansas City teenager in the head because he thought the kid was a threat and he was just defending himself in the best way he could.