In the wake of every high-profile shooting in this country, gun control advocates always claim they do not wish to subvert the Second Amendment but merely to impose “commonsense” regulations. However, the recent legislation proposed by Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., barring the sale or transfer of semiautomatic weapons such as the very popular AR-15, illustrates the true goal of such people.
We are frequently lectured by Representative Cicilline and his ilk that we don’t “need” access to “military-style” firearms such as the semi-automatic AR-15. But “military-style” is as meaningless as “assault rifle.” The fact is that most firearms in the United States, whether rifles or handguns, are semi-automatic, i.e, they require a pull of the trigger for each round fired. It is also the case that the AR-15 was originally sold as a civilian rifle.