The Weapon of War On My Wall
Exploring a Rhetorically Useless Term
It happens regularly, kind of like "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel--progressives are called from every corner of social media to engage in Two Minutes' Hate against AR-15s, and work themselves up in a frenzy of ignorance-fueled virtue-signalling (but, I repeat myself),
What set it off this time was an actual school shooting in Nashville. I say "actual," because gun control propagandists love padding stats. They'll count everything from suicides to off-hours gang fights, stray bullets, and negligent discharges by SROs and try to put it in the same category as a Uvalde or Parkland. They won't headline such incidents on their own, though.
This time, however, it was a real shooting. But it's been interesting to see how the Left has treated the shooter. They've done all but outright forgiven her for ending the lives of six people because she was the sort of sexually confused person they have chosen to celebrate, if not downright sanctify, the last several years. For others, the use of pronouns seems to be of greater import than the lives of three children.
For all Left's grandstanding about how no one is above the law, in practice, apparently some are. The violent "protests" of 2013, the Ferguson riots of 2014 and 2015, the Antifa riots of 2016, the BLM riots of 2020--and the canonization of all the holy thugs in whose names they were perpetrated--is proof enough of that.
To distract from this moral dissonance, and to avoid the difficult questions involving behaviors the Left has sought to normalize, they focus instead on one of the weapons the shooter had on her person when she was efficiently taken down by the MNPD.
The last few years, the hoplophobic Left has tried demonizing the iconic AR-15 with accusations of it being a "weapon of war." While just about every "presidential" candidate the DNC fielded in 2019 used this line to put their gun control credentials right out there, only Beto bothered to try to define it.
Supposedly, a weapon of war is one designed for the military, purchased by the military, and used by the military on the battlefield.
If that's the case, the overwhelming majority of "assault weapons" are not "weapons of war." In the case of AR-15s, the vast majority of ones owned by civilians deviate from Stoner's original design by being semi-auto-only, instead of having the built-in capability of firing fully automatic (or 3-round burst) with a flip of the selector switch.
Such rifles are marketed to civilians, not the military, and are thus not bought by the military. And, it goes without saying the military can't use what it doesn't have in its inventory.
The substance of a slogan can be easily seen with just a little extra examination. Most of gun control's talking points usually can't survive such scrutiny.
But I do have a weapon of war hanging on my wall.
It's a M1 carbine, manufactured around 1944. It was designed by several engineers working for the Winchester Corporation, meeting the U.S. military's demand in 1940 for a lighter weight long gun to give support troops and rear-area personnel more defensive firepower than a sidearm.
That it was designed for the military checks one of Beto's boxes for a "weapon of war."
Over 6 million of these carbines were manufactured by various companies--Winchester, Inland, even IBM, the Underwood Typewriter Company, and Rock-Ola--for the war effort.
That it was purchased by the military checks another Beto box for a "weapon of war."
Finally, the carbine saw service by our own forces (Army, Marines, Air Force) in World War 2, Korea, and Vietnam. In fact, my Vietnam-vet cousin can tell you he knew of Special Forces operators that preferred the carbine over the newly-issued M-16 for the ability of its cartridge to better penetrate jungle foliage.
This checks the third Beto box, making it a bona-fide "weapon of war," as opposed to any AR-15 I have ever owned. But no one ever talks about wanting to get rid of these rifles.
Now, some gun control fanboys may scoff, and say, "Well, you don't hear of any mass shootings being carried out with a World War 2 relic."
However, there has been one. In 1990, a troubled man from Jacksonville, FL went on a shooting spree with a Universal M1 carbine--a line of M1 carbine with slightly different internals than the original GI model. 11 people were killed.
Before passing judgment on this weapon, here's something else to consider. The M1 carbine I own was purchased by my Dad in 1964, for less than twenty dollars. Surplus carbines were making their way into the civilian market, and it became a very popular weapon to own--it was the AR-15 of its time in that respect.
In 1964, the Civil Rights Movement was at the height of its activity. I was reading a book written by Charles Cobb, who organized for the Congress of Racial Equality in its efforts to promote civil rights for everyone during that time. His work, This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed, recounted the role guns played in that movement. Specifically, he credits part of its success due to the contributions of war veterans within the movement.
These were men who, after fighting racist tyrants abroad and liberating people oppressed by them, offered their skills and courage to do the same for themselves at home. They understood how they were dealing with bigots all too ready to employ violence to hinder their efforts towards equality—and knew that sometimes, the best deterrent to violence was to show you had the ability, and willingness, to defend yourself.
Such was the case with the Deacons for Defense and Justice, a group consisting largely of World War 2 and Korean War veterans of color who organized themselves into a unit for providing security at many of the Civil Rights marches and rallies during the 1960s.
One of the Deacons' leaders, Earnest "Chilly Willy" Thomas, in typical military fashion, sought to standardize the weapons and training for the Deacons. His choice of weapons were .38 revolvers--and the M1 Carbine. And they were a regular sight wherever the Deacons were deployed.
Additionally, one of Malcolm X’s iconic photos features a M1 Carbine, with two 30-round magazines taped together for quick reloading.
So, the M1 Carbine could very well have been the official long gun of the Civil Rights Movement. And in case you didn't notice, the Civil Rights Movement was successful partially because people had "weapons of war," and in the streets, to boot.
All of this to say that demonizing something as a “weapon of war” doesn't tell everything that weapon can be used for. As with every tool, it depends upon the user.
Sure, it can be used to kill and murder. But it can also be an instrument of defense and liberation. In fact, such weapons in civilian hands tend to be used more to defend lives than take them.
It’s a benefit such weapons confers upon our society that those with an agenda try their hardest to dismiss.