The first comprehensive survey to look at ownership and use of modern sporting rifles reveals that 8.9 million Americans went target shooting with AR-style rifles in 2009 and that participants using this type of rifle were the most active among all types of sport shooters. “These findings underscore that modern sporting rifles are becoming commonplace in America and are among the most desired firearms by sport shooters,” said Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “Those who want to ban these civilian sporting rifles simply because they look like military rifles must acknowledge after seeing this study that AR-style rifles are exceedingly popular with millions of Americans. These rifles are our industry’s high-tech, cutting-edge product — rugged, accurate, versatile, fun to shoot and easily accessorized — and they’re here to stay.”
So how exactly wouldn’t these be the kind of rifles mentioned in Heller as “in common use at the time, and are thus protected. This weekend I plan to shoot my AR-15 in a match. Why? Because there’s not much that beats it for high-power shooting.
“This weekend I plan to shoot my AR-15 in a match. Why? Because there’s not much that beats it for high-power shooting.”
This weekend some friends and I plan to use our AR-15/10’s to shoot targets,kill prairie dogs and hunt coyotes. Why? Because nothing beats an AR for anything, best all-purpose rifle ever made imho.
And every single one of them could be full-auto M16s for want of about $1 in parts and absence of prohibition law 922(o).
Whither “in common use” then?
And for that matter, does Heller specify what community is referred to when assessing the “common use” standard? I’m waiting for a Caifornia on NJ “assault weapons” ban to be defended on the basis that those guns aren’t in common use _here_…
This is great. You can bet this will be brought out during the next court case in which the other side tries to demonize ARs, and thanks to Heller’s twisted logic on the “in common use” criterion, it will be very persuasive.