The Most Absurd AR-15 Article Ever
BY Herschel Smith
11 years, 8 months ago
For gunmakers, the political fight over assault rifles and high-capacity pistols is about more than just profits – it’s about the militarization of the marketplace and represents a desperate bid by gunmakers to prop up a decaying business. The once-dependable market for traditional hunting guns has fallen off a cliff. To adapt, the firearms industry has embraced a business strategy that requires it to place the weapons of war favored by deranged killers like Adam Lanza and Jared Loughner into the homes and holsters of as many Americans as possible. “They’re not selling your dad’s hunting rifle or shotgun,” says Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, a top industry watchdog. “They’re selling military-bred weaponry.”
The Violence Policy Center. But who else would Rolling Stone go to but the Violence Policy Center? Of course.
So this article makes it sound like gun manufacturers are just struggling to stay in business, and have had to adapt to give people what they want, which is not really old fashioned rifles, but rather, these awful, evil black guns. If this is true, I guess the cost for a nice Remington 700 series rifle has dropped like a rock.
Oooopppps! I guess not, since the MSRP is still $800 – $1200. Not good. A broken narrative. But let’s continue.
Less than 20 percent of Americans born after 1980 report having a gun in the home. “For the industry, the problem is ‘Who is going to buy the guns?'” says Sugarmann. “To borrow the language of the tobacco industry,” he says, “they need to find ‘replacement shooters.'”
Good grief. Maybe he should have focused on people born between 1980 and 1990, since people born much later are prohibited by law from owning firearms. What a dumb ass. And any shooter knows just how hard it is to order firearms now, what the demand is, and how many new and young shooters there are at ranges. But this author isn’t a shooter. He is a dumb ass. The narrative has changed too, from one of simply meeting creepy customer demand to making that market themselves by a slick strategy. Does this guy have an editor? Was he drunk when he wrote this crap? But going backwards in the article, we get this little gem.
AR-15 enthusiasts brag they can fire up to 400 rounds in 60 seconds. Paying roughly 50 cents a bullet, such shooters are blowing through $200 worth of ammo in a hot minute.
Maybe he should have gotten up with me. I could have told him that the going price for 5.56 mm is about $1.00 per round. I want to know what store told him they could sell at 50 cents per round?
Oh well. This is what you get when writers at Rolling Stone weigh in dramatically and breathlessly on things about which they are ignorant.
UPDATE: Oh look! It’s like watching a train wreck. Rolling Stone was picked up and parroted by … you guessed it … MSNBC. The only thing better than progressives choosing to look like dumb asses is progressives falling in line to be like each other and looking, well, like dumb asses. Daily Kos, anyone? What other progressive rag will run with this meme? How rich.
On March 1, 2013 at 2:37 am, geoffb said:
Perhaps a little testifying is in order.
From David T. Hardy before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
On March 1, 2013 at 8:18 am, sic semper said:
the firearms industry has embraced a business strategy that requires it to place the weapons of war favored by deranged killers like Adam Lanza and Jared Loughner into the homes”
Um, … did we ever get confirmation on whether Lanza used the AR-15, or whether (according to some reports) it remained in the trunk of his car, while he used handguns?
And, …uh … Loughner used a .9 mm glock pistol.
Just another way in which you’re right “Most Absurd AR-15 Article Ever”.
On March 1, 2013 at 9:32 am, Publius said:
That’s not ignorance you’re seeing on display. Everything the ruling class media say is designed to advance their narrative in public, and privately to keep the faithful appraised of current dogma.
It’s not misinformation they’re publishing, it’s disinformation — lies put out to achieve the aforementioned purposes.
It’s worth reading these articles only to the extent you want to stay in touch with the lies the politburo is currently spreading. That may have some tactical usefulness if you run with a crowd that takes Rolling Stone and similar publications as gospel. Otherwise — not.
On March 1, 2013 at 10:23 am, Herschel Smith said:
geoffb, I read Dave’s testimony before the Senate subcommittee in full. Everyone should read it. The only problem with it is that the subcommittee doesn’t deserve it. They deserve to be horsewhipped. Dave might have been casting his pearl before swine, with the Senators being the swine.
Publius, I guess you’re saying that this is a campaign of lies by the chattering class. But I still think they have to find a willing dupe to write this crap, someone who is ignorant. No one really wants to look this stupid.
On March 1, 2013 at 6:06 pm, Publius said:
The “willing dupe” is willing indeed, because writing such tripe serves the larger purpose noted above AND — good career move here — it lets his betters know that he’s onboard and totally reliable in the agitation-propaganda business.
The best way to keep your creds with the politburo is to put your shoulder to the wheel, comrade, and let everyone see you spreading the radiant message of hope.
Hell, if he does this often enough, he may even come to believe it.
And if you need a counterexample of what happens to those who backslide in the march to the glorious future: see under Bob Woodward.
On March 6, 2013 at 12:38 am, dwdude said:
wow, quality 5.56 ammo at 50 cents a round? send me all you have!!!! typical nyc leftist turd. these people rarely own a car, much less a gun.
On March 6, 2013 at 4:41 am, GunRights4US said:
Once upon a time Rolling Stone used newsprint that was quite suitable for wiping your ass. Certainly it’s still good for lining the bottom of birdcages.
On March 6, 2013 at 3:01 pm, jdkchem said:
They make a belt fed AR? How do you get 400 rounds in 60 seconds, even with 4 100 rnd mags.