To The Eagle:

It is unfortunate seeing the lack of knowledge (or intentional deception) of many government officials and citizens crying “Ban the AR-15.” Most do not have a clue about the rifle and seem to get their knowledge strictly from media hype or the movies. They believe it is a magical rifle capable of things other rifles cannot do.

115 years ago, Winchester came out with the Model 1907, a gun anyone could buy from a Sears catalogue and have delivered via US Post. It was/ is a semi-automatic, high powered centerfire rifle, with detachable, high capacity magazine. About 400,000 semi-automatic rifles were produced before WW2. Civilians had hundreds of thousands of these for 56 years before the AR-15 came out in 1963.

The 1907 fired just as fast as an AR15 or AK47 and the bullet (.351 Winchester) was actually larger than those fired by the more modern looking weapons.

The only functional difference between the 1907 and the much feared AR15 is the scary black plastic stock. The semi auto, so-called "assault rifle" is 115 years old. It isn’t new in any way, and it certainly isn’t as M Bouchard called it in this column last week a “Modern combat rifle.”

In 2020 there were 42,700 Fentanyl deaths in the US. In the same period 455 people were killed with rifles (which include the AR-15). Yet you choose to ban the AR-15 and fight to keep the border open and the fentanyl flowing. It is not about saving lives; it is about disarming citizens to gain control.

According to The Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) The assault weapons ban of 1994 did nothing to reduce gun crime. The only real justification for a ban now is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.

M Moneyhan

Puget Island