AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File
During Wednesday’ episode of Your World with Neil Cavuto, former game show host and social commentator Ben Stein criticized AR-15s as firearms that enable nerds to go into a gun shop and walk out feeling like Rambo.
“I think it’s a damn good idea to ban the AR-15,” Stein said. “An AR-15 is a weapon that’s extremely seductive, it looks like a weapon of war. Makes a person who’s a big nerd be able to go into a gun shop, buy it, come out feeling like he’s Rambo.”
The former President Nixon speechwriter said when someone takes the AR-15 or one of “its many, many, many cousins” and mix “them up with violent video games…[it is] a recipe for disaster.”
Moreover, Stein contended that the AR-15 is not practical for private ownership because it is “not an ideal target shooting weapon, not an ideal hunting weapon, not an ideal home defense weapon.”
It should be noted that Stein’s claim runs completely counter to those put forward by ATF Associate Deputy Director Ronald Turk. On January 20, 2017, the Washington Post published a “White Paper” from Turk wherein he suggested the sporting and hunting applications for AR-15s had reached such a point that the ATF needed to amend past studies on the firearm.
Turk wrote, “The use of AR-15s, AK-style, and similar rifles now commonly referred to as ‘modern sporting rifles’ has increased exponentially in sport shooting. These firearm types are now standard for hunting activities. ATF could re-examine its 20-year-old study to bring it up to date with the sport shooting landscape of today, which is vastly different than it was years ago.”
In other words, the AR-15 and its “many, many, many cousins” are widely used for hunting and shooting sports.
After pushing an AR-15 ban, Stein said, “I’m a big Second Amendment guy.” He then added, “But the Second Amendment is not to have military style weapons in the hands of civilians.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, 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 directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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