NBC Sports’ Peter King Uses Memorial Day to Push AR-15 Ban, Raise Gun Purchasing Age to 21

NBC Sports’ Peter King used his Memorial Day Football Morning in America column to criticize U.S. gun laws and to call for a ban on the sales of AR-15 rifles.

King opened his column by taking time to “mourn those lost in service to our country.” Then he segued to the people who have been killed by the criminal use of guns in recent weeks.

He wrote, “I will also remember the 32 people murdered over the last 16 days in our country, in Buffalo at a supermarket, in a church in Laguna Woods, Calif., and in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.”

King went on to ask about politicians in general, writing, “I wonder why the people who make and enforce laws in this country cannot be open-minded about a solution to this cancerous problem.” He then criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in particular; criticizing him for not responding with gun control to the Uvalde shooting.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaking at a business conference (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Then King wrote:

We are the United States of Guns. We care more about protecting the rights of 18-year-olds to buy semi-automatic weapons than we do about 10-year-old children being safe in school. It’s time to strengthen and mandate tougher universal background checks before people can purchase firearms, to stop selling AR 15-type weapons to civilians, and to raise the age to 21 for a person to buy guns.

King did not mention that the Uvalde attacker passed a background check for his guns, as did the Buffalo attacker.

And King also omitted that the Uvalde attacker entered the school through an unlocked door and there was no armed guard present to stop him. (Over the weekend, Sen. Ted Cruz [R-TX] suggested we need more “armed good guys” not more gun control.)

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the NRA Convention in Houston (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Lastly, King’s column contains no information on how popular AR-15s and similar rifles are with law-abiding citizens.

On November 17, 2020, Breitbart News reported National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) numbers showing Americans owned nearly 20 million rifles which fall into the Democrats’ “assault weapons” category.

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 and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.