NYT Makes Whopping Admission on AR-15s, AK-47s, Deals Devastating Blow to Gun Grabbers

In this Western Journal article, Harold Hutchison argues that a New York Times report unintentionally strengthened the legal and political case against bans on AR-15s, AK-style rifles, and other modern semiautomatic firearms.

• The article says The New York Times acknowledged that AK-style semiautomatic rifles were once “ubiquitous” before the AR-15 became dominant in the civilian market.
• Hutchison frames that acknowledgment as significant because gun-rights advocates often argue that firearms in “common use” receive constitutional protection.
• The piece points to the Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller decision, which emphasized that the Second Amendment protects arms commonly chosen by Americans for lawful purposes.
• The article argues that admitting AR-15s are widely owned undercuts the rationale for sweeping “assault weapons” bans.
• Hutchison cites the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s estimate that there may be as many as 32 million modern sporting rifles in civilian circulation.
• The author compares that number to the popularity of the Ford F-150 to argue that such rifles cannot plausibly be treated as rare or fringe.
• The piece also references the 2022 Bruen decision as another legal obstacle for states trying to restrict commonly owned firearms.
• The article specifically criticizes Democratic politicians and gun-control groups, arguing that the New York Times gave Second Amendment litigants a useful citation.
• The broader takeaway is that media and political efforts to portray AR-15s and AK-style rifles as abnormal may collide with the reality that millions of Americans legally own them.

Read the full story: https://www.westernjournal.com/nyt-makes-whopping-admission-ar-15s-ak-47s-deals-devastating-blow-gun-grabbers/