Is it the Gun or the Person that Causes Violence?

Recently we’ve heard a lot of claims and counter-claims about modern rifles. We can call them “modern” but these guns are not new. Honest gun owners use them every day. Occasionally, some criminals use them as well. About one-out-of-eight gun owners have a modern rifle. As we’d expect, rifles are used in armed defense about an eighth of the time.

Semi-automatic, magazine-fed rifles were introduced to the civilian market here in the USA in 1905. That was 116 years ago. The US military adopted them three decades later during World War II. The only thing unique about the original M-16 was its plastic stock. Rather than being a fire-breathing monster, the M-16 is noted for its low recoil. The civilian version, the AR15, was introduced in 1956 so it has been with us for over six decades. If the AR brought innovation to the civilian market it was its adjustable stock. The AR can be adjusted to fit people of smaller stature in seconds.

The AR is the gateway rifle, the Volks-gun. I think that is why the democrats want it banned. Here are two recent news stories that involve a modern rifle.

A homeowner with an AR-15 stopped two intruders.

It was mid-morning when a homeowner in Brownsboro, Texas heard the sounds of breaking glass coming from inside his home. The homeowner grabbed his AR rifle and went to see what was happening. The homeowner saw two strangers in the middle of his house. The defender told the intruders not to move. The second intruder, a female accomplice, ran away. The defender let her go and called 911.

Police arrested the male intruder. The homeowner pointed out the broken glass near his front door. Police took the intruder to jail and searched the neighborhood for the second robber.

The defender was not charged with a crime.

The homeowner did not press the trigger as he defended himself. That is the usual outcome and happens 80-percent of the time we use our gun for self-defense.

There are exceptions when we need to shoot.

A woman with her concealed carry license stops mass murder by a felon with an AR-15.

A woman with her concealed carry permit was attending a graduation/ birthday party at an apartment complex in Charleston, West Virginia. The party had spilled out into the parking lot with about 40 people at the celebration. At about 10 at night, a man drove through the parking lot and people shouted for him to slow down.

This driver took offense and came back a half hour later. He climbed into the back seat of his car and started shooting at the crowd with his AR rifle. That is when our armed defender shot back several times. She stopped the attacker.

No one else was injured. She called 911 and remained at the scene. Emergency medical services declared the attacker dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. The attacker was a convicted felon with a long criminal record. The police are investigating where he got his firearm.

It looks like gun control laws don’t stop criminals from using guns, but there is more we can learn from these two news accounts. AR rifles do not turn honest homeowners into enraged murderers. Our neighbors only use lethal force as a last resort. These rifles do not make criminals into unstoppable killers. Modern rifles are mundane.

The sad news is that honest reporting about ordinary citizens defending themselves doesn’t make money for the mainstream news media. The media needs to say that a particular piece of steel, plastic and aluminum is unusual. What else will keep us watching through the commercial advertisements?

About Rob Morse

The original article is posted here. Rob Morse writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily, at Second Call Defense, and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob was an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.