MSBNC host Joe Scarborough voiced support for the Second Amendment on Sunday, but stressed it does not protect “weapons of war,” by which he meant AR-15s.
In a series of tweets Scarborough suggested the AR-15, a civilian rifle, is deadlier than the M-16, a military rifle.
The AR-15 is semiautomatic, which means it fires one round each time the trigger is pulled. The M-16 has a fire selector switch which allows the rifle to be switched between semiautomatic and automatic fire. In automatic fire mode the M-16 will fire as many rounds as are in the magazine with a single pull of the trigger.
Yet Scarborough suggests the AR-15 is deadlier than the M-16 and described it as “weapon of war.”
Scarborough tweeted that the AR-15 “was far deadlier than the M-16 used in Vietnam.”
Having painted the AR-15 as a “weapon of war,” Scarborough then tweeted that the Second Amendment does not protect such weapons:
Scarborough’s firearm observations come just hours after Democrat presidential hopeful Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke contended that sales of AR-15s ought to be banned in America.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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.