To the editor:
I read with interest Ms. Wiegert’s letter to you in Wed. paper. Spreading ignorance seems to be a common occurrence today, among news agencies as well. Here is the history of the so-called “assault rifle.”
First the term assault rifle did not exist until the anti-gun establishment coined the term in the most recent years. In the early 1960’s, Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense, wanted a new rifle for the military. Eugene Stoner, working for Armalite Corp., had developed the AR-10 rifle, which was a caliber .308 and used the Army’s existing 7.62X51 ammo used in the then current M-14 rifle.
It should be noted that the “AR” in AR-10 stands for “Armalite Rifle” made by the Armalite Corp. Well, McNamara did not like the rifle and thought (actually demanded) that the military must adopt a much smaller bullet size, for various reasons not necessary to discuss here. McNamara decided on the 5.56X31mm (.223 Remington) and asked Armalite to make a rifle for that caliber. Thus, by virtue of McNamara’s demands, the AR-15 was born and later became the Army’s M-16 rifle. Note that the AR still represents “Armalite Rifle.” Please!
There is no such thing as an “assault rifle.” Currently, all of the older rifles used since World War I are available for purchase at gun stores and gun shows all over the world. Not a single one of those rifles is currently called an “assault rifle.”
The anti-gun lobby has, by their ignorance, decided that the AR in the AR-15 stands for Assault Rifle and so in their attempt to make the rifle some kind of terrorist rifle like the AK-47 (used by 99.9 percent of all terrorists by the billions). It’s funny that I can own an AK-47 and I am OK. But, if I own an AR-15, I own an assault weapon and I am somehow a bad guy. There are more AK-47’s than all other military weapons combined in this world. AK-47 rifles outnumber AR-15 rifles at least 1,000 to 1 and the AK is far more dangerous than the AR, having a larger bullet.
Folks, you should see the Army’s new rifle.
The new rifle, XM7, borrows the same excellent design functions found in the old AR-15 (M-16) but has a new higher power bullet called the 6.8X71mm CC. (CC stands for “common cartridge). The new ammo has a much longer range with improved accuracy and the new rifle has “first shot hit” capability at long range, something our troops did not have with the old weaponry. As a former Army combatant in the Vietnam War, I applaud the new weapon. And, no, it is not an assault weapon. It is an infantry rifle. There is no such thing as an assault rifle.
J.T. King
Mt. Airy