We hope you’re sitting down for this one because we have shocking news to report.
NBC News did a special report on “America’s rifle,” the AR-15, and managed to get through the entire thing with little to no misinformation or fear-mongering. Perhaps this falls under the category of a broken clock being right twice a day, but it’s shocking nonetheless.
Writer Jon Schuppe offered a very fair and balanced look at the rifle and why “so many people love the AR-15.” Only once was the firearm referred to as an “assault rifle” but not without informing readers that’s not what AR means. Instead, Schuppe accurately reported it's named after the company which first manufactured the weapon, ArmaLite. One other time, Schuppe references “assault weapons” in quotes when talking about the ban signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 which used that language.
Schuppe was also careful to explain that semiautomatic doesn’t mean it’s a machine gun spraying bullets wildly like most media outlets do. He explained one round fires with each squeeze of the trigger, just like any other semiautomatic firearm. An included chart shows that while AR-style rifles are often used in mass shootings, the “AR-15 rifle accounts for relatively few murders.” This certainly doesn’t sound like the “dangerous gun” we hear so much about in the media.
A thorough coverage of the firearm’s history is spelled out in the piece and its growth in popularity over the last few years. Schuppe spends only a few short paragraphs pointing out why gun control advocates want it banned, but equalizes that concern by noting how AR-15 owners say the firearm “has been wrongly demonized” and rarely used in incidents of gun violence.
The rest of the story is used to show “the side of the AR-15 that many don’t see, or even consider.” Schuppe showcases several AR-15 enthusiasts who describe their favorite “toy” as fun to shoot, accurate, and a symbol of “freedom, might, self-reliance.”
One of the owners featured is 26-year-old Baltimore resident Daniel Chandler. As a black child growing up in the violence-plagued city, Chandler decided he was anti-gun in his youth. However, when a neighbor was shot in a home invasion, Chandler realized the importance of self-defense. Now he has an AR-15 collection with at least one built from scratch:
Chandler loves the AR he built. He admires its simple, efficient mechanics, its precision, and how much fun it brings. He fires almost weekly for target practice, along with a Glock 17 handgun. He’s taken his wife to the range with him, and she’s become an AR fan herself, preparing to build her own.
Chandler, who is black, doesn't have many friends who enjoy guns as much as he does. So he has created a firearm-focused Instagram page to find similarly minded people, many of them millennial first-generation gun owners like himself.
“The AR-15 makes sense, and I think that’s why more people my age are gravitating to it,” Chandler said.
A female AR enthusiast is also featured in the piece and explains her reasoning for choosing that style:
“We looked at the AR-15, and it was all in one package,” Hill, 26, recalled. “You can target-shoot with it, protect yourself with it, hunt with it. Luckily we haven’t had to use it in self-defense, but it’s a comfort knowing that it’s there to protect my children and my family.”
“What makes us a strong nation is our freedom, and the AR-15 represents that freedom,” Hill said.
Schuppe’s story ends showing how the AR-style rifles help control the feral hog population in southern states. If you didn’t know any better, you might think this was an ad to sell you one.
See, telling the truth isn’t that hard after all.