Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal reacted to photos of people open-carrying rifles and shotguns in North Carolina by proclaiming, “You don’t need to be a US citizen walking around with a damn AR.”
He tweeted:
Beal also tweeted, “That’s fine it’s our ‘constitutional right,’ which we all know is wrong! But why carry them into public places like we living a a fucking war zone?”
One Twitter follower said, “I don’t see the problem with me owning an AR, going to the shooting range and shooting at targets. Why do you care so much?”
Beal responded: “Zero prob with going to the range.. but just walking around in phblinc [sic] with it? That’s cool?”
When one Twitter user suggested Beal was speaking about things he did not understand, Beal said, “I know plenty my man. In this instance, yes I’m singling out an AR bc that’s what’s visible in a pic I was referring too. Now, since It’s just an opinion. Do you think it’s smart to walk around out in Public with an AR?”
Despite Beal’s numerous tweets, an AR-15 is not a military firearm. It is a semiautomatic rifle that shoots one round, and only one round, each time the trigger is pulled. Military firearms — commonly known as M4s — have a select-fire switch that allows them to either be fired in semiautomatic mode or in fully automatic bursts.
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 at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.