The Harley Davidson of Rifles

Now this is news: News Report Gives Accurate Facts About AR-15 Rifle

There is no doubt that the anti-gun crowd has targeted the AR-15 rifle. The amount of incorrect information that they are pushing out about the AR-15 is amazing. And the worst part is that some people are buying into the lies.

I think that most of us would agree that, in general, the media loves to join in on the AR-15 demonizing bandwagon. Story after story tries to convince us that the AR-15 is something it is not. But I was very pleasantly surprised by this story that was just released by a Connecticut news station. The goal of the story was to actually clarify the facts surrounding the AR-15.

Special Report: Firearm Facts -- the AR-15

What makes the AR-15 so popular?

1. It's made in America. That's been getting hard to come by over the years.
2. Cool factor. It works good, it looks good. It has a history. It's flexible. I can protect my family if I need to, I can hunt with it if I choose, I can compete with it, I can just have fun plinking. I can do all that with a choice of many different calibers. The options for owner customization are unparalleled in the gun world, bringing us to the next point.
3. It's customizable, I can make it my own. It's easy to work on. It's relatively inexpensive.
   
   Like a lot of Americans I used to like to work on cars. It used to be you had endless options to make your car your own. That is no longer the case, the price of customizing a car has risen to unaffordable levels and modern cars all have proprietary computer systems that the average shade tree mechanic can no longer work on.
   
   Motorcycles fit the bill for a while but even motorcycles have been modernized with computers and prices have risen to unaffordable luxury level for many of us.
   
   Much like the Harley Davidson, I can buy a stock AR-15 off the shelf. I can customize it a little or a lot. I can build a complete AR-15 from parts myself if I so choose - and I do- and I can do all that for just about $1000.00. At least I could before the gun ban threat.

The AR-15 is a great rifle, it's fun and it's as safe as a rifle can be. There are millions of them in the hands of your fellow Americans and the number of people harmed by them is infinitesimally small in comparison. We would save more people banning swimming pools or ladders rather than the AR-15.