Assault Weapons for Fun and Profit

by | Mar 4, 2024 | Opinions & Commentary

SWAT officer at a range with an AR-15 rifle. Image: DBTN, iStockphoto

Assault Weapons for Fun and Profit

by | Mar 4, 2024 | Opinions & Commentary

SWAT officer at a range with an AR-15 rifle. Image: DBTN, iStockphoto

Listening to the talking heads of doom on FOX and other far-right propaganda channels, one can get the idea that life is so dangerous you must have military firepower just to go buy a carton of milk. Nope.

A few years I had the opportunity to fire an AR-15 assault rifle. Not just plinking, but in an indoor range. I was supervised by a professional and the weapon I was handling was capable of firing full automatic—a fact I was allowed to take advantage of.

Honestly, it was a tremendous amount of fun ripping tiny holes in paper targets, multiple rounds at a time. It was literally a blast. I went through a 30-round magazine very quickly, even though I was shooting short bursts. I found the weapon extremely easy to manage and control even in full auto mode.

And it gives me a tremendous satisfaction to know that I have not the slightest interest or feeling of need to possess such a weapon—even in the usual semi-automatic configuration. To be clear, I’m not against owning weapons. I am a gun owner—but defiantly not a member of the NRA. However, weapons of war are another thing altogether.

Here’s something of a reality check. Rounds come out of the muzzle of the AR-15 at a velocity approaching over half a mile per second. But because the weapon is so easy to shoot, it is easy to divorce one’s self from the damaging power this represents. The tiny holes in paper targets, cans and buckets out on the range become something else altogether when they are the entry wounds in a human body.

A surgeon treating survivors of the Parkland shooting spoke of the frightening and devastating amount of damage done to the bodies of the children he was trying to save. I will not go into the graphic details. Suffice to say, when people describe this as a weapon of war, it is a totally correct description.

War is insanity. Pure and simple. The people who actually want war are insane—luckily for us they are a tiny minority. At their core they are terrified of others while seeking to profit from their deaths. There is nothing noble, redeeming, glorious or any other of the flowery bullshit used to describe war. Again, it is insanity. Part of that insanity is the devaluing of human life down to the dimensions of an imaginary paper target. Except that the tiny hole you poke in this target becomes gaping, devastating and deadly destruction of that person’s body.

So why would anyone want to keep these weapons available to the general public? The first answer is of course profit. But to create a market to sell these fearsome weapons into, one must create a climate of fear, anger, difference and division. One where “the other guy” just might be dangerous. Where one has to have “protection.”

If you really feel unsafe in your environment, go out and talk to the other people in it. You are going to find—I guarantee it—that the vast majority of people in your area are really cool and amazingly safe. Even the ones that might not be so good are trying to be. Then ask yourself, “Are these people I want to make war against?” I doubt it.

So when you hear the howling words of a lobbyist professing to “protect the rights” of everyone to own weapons they don’t need and would never want to use against a fellow citizen, know that you’re hearing the voice of insanity for profit. When you hear the talking heads on FOX and other far-right outlets constantly warnings of an invasion on our southern border, just know that fear is their business. Even their own devotees were disappointed when they rushed to the Texas border to repel the invasion and couldn’t find it.

We’re not being invaded. The vast majority of us live in safe neighborhoods. Fear and danger are not around every corner. Sure, valid stories of violations of these ideas happen. But they are not the majority or the norm. You don’t need to have an arsenal. If you want a bunch of guns because they are fun to shoot, that’s a whole different subject. Punching holes in paper targets is not training for war.

Training for the use of such a weapon in combat goes miles further than shooting targets on a range. You have to be able to instantly react to conditions around you. What is your background? Not what’s behind you, but what is behind your target? Are other people there? Will they be in danger? Is your bullet going to punch through three houses before it expends its force? Do you even know what the danger is in the first place? The training in the use and management of any weapon goes way beyond pulling a trigger. Are you ready for all the weight that goes with pulling the trigger of a war weapon?

So, if you start feeling the chill of fear in your bones and feel the need for arms and armor against an invading horde, or your neighbors, change the channel. The silence will be much nicer, just like your neighbors.

Marty Kassowitz

Marty Kassowitz

Marty Kassowitz is co-founder of Factkeepers. As founder of Interest Factory and View360, he brings more than 30 years experience in effective online communications, social media management, and platform development to the site. He is a writer, designer, editor and long time observer of the ill-logic demonstrated by too many members of the species known as Mankind. After a long history of somewhat private commentary on a subject he totally hates: politics, Marty was encouraged to build this site and put up his own analyses as well as curate relevant content from other sources.

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