Chicago Art Exhibit Suggests Buying an AR-15 as Easy as Renting a Bike

An art exhibit opening in Chicago’s Daley Plaza suggests buying an AR-15 is no more complicated than renting a bike.

The exhibit does not explain that we have a natural, G0d-given right to keep and bear arms but no constitutional right to bicycles.

CNN reports that the exhibit shows ten fake AR-15s in a rack that looks like the rack from which one can rent a bicycle in larger cities. The exhibit is a project shared by The Escape Pod, a Chicago advertising agency, and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Brady Campaign press secretary Max Samis said, “Our hope is to raise awareness of this important issue. We’re hoping the Chicago community can take advantage of this … and learn how simple it is for a civilian to obtain a weapon of war.”

To be clear, an AR-15 is not a “weapon of war.” Is is a rifle built on a semi-automatic platform, which means it fires one round–and only one–every time the trigger is pulled. An M-16, which is a “weapon of war,” fires automatically with only one pull of the trigger.

The Brady Campaign hopes comparing the method of acquiring AR-15s with the method of acquiring bicycles will raise support for universal background checks, an “assault weapons” ban, and California-style gun confiscation orders.

Ironically, almost every mass shooter during the last 15 years passed a background check to acquire his or her gun, so universal background checks would do nothing to prevent public attacks. Moreover, the federal “assault weapons” ban was in place when the Columbine attack occurred. The ban did nothing to prevent that attack.

Lastly, California allows courts to order the confiscation of an individual’s guns. That did nothing to prevent the December 2, 2015, San Bernardino attack; the October 8, 2016, ambush and murder of Palm Springs police officers; or the March 9, 2018, attack on the Yountville Veterans Home.

 

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.