Believe me, as someone from the "red state" gun culture, they NEVER forget the assault weapons ban. It's just one more instance of federal tyranny and proof they need more guns to fight said perceived tyranny.
As far as an AR-15 for defense, I actually nearly bought one and would totally use it to defend myself, my family, or my property. The fact that it's as effective as it is just makes it even more the case. Perhaps for those living in different circumstances it's harder to justify; especially in dense urban/suburban areas. I still get to fall back on the whole moose/bear thing and the fact that my nearest neighbor is over 1/4 mile away. We have known black bear and grizzlies all around my property, and we have moose walk through our homesite practically daily. These things are no joke and I want to stop them in their tracks. For those that've never seen a moose in person, an adult bull moose is incomprehensibly large and they can take a lot of damage and still keep going.
Instead of an AR, my home defense weapon of choice is a 12ga shotgun, which itself is quite destructive. What it lacks is the range and precision of a rifle.
My brother, a Marine, told me to make sure if I had to fire the gun that I aimed for the body mass in the middle. (He said law enforcement is taught that too; none of this shot them in the leg stuff.) He wanted to make sure I was capable emotionally of doing that. I assured him I was. Still am.
Yeah, whenever people say something like, "why didn't they shoot him in the shoulder?", I have to assume they've probably not handled a gun much, let alone under fire. I've never been in a gun fight, but having competed, I can tell you that the stress definitely affects your precision. Unless you've trained a ton, keep it simple.
Believe me, as someone from the "red state" gun culture, they NEVER forget the assault weapons ban. It's just one more instance of federal tyranny and proof they need more guns to fight said perceived tyranny.
As far as an AR-15 for defense, I actually nearly bought one and would totally use it to defend myself, my family, or my property. The fact that it's as effective as it is just makes it even more the case. Perhaps for those living in different circumstances it's harder to justify; especially in dense urban/suburban areas. I still get to fall back on the whole moose/bear thing and the fact that my nearest neighbor is over 1/4 mile away. We have known black bear and grizzlies all around my property, and we have moose walk through our homesite practically daily. These things are no joke and I want to stop them in their tracks. For those that've never seen a moose in person, an adult bull moose is incomprehensibly large and they can take a lot of damage and still keep going.
Instead of an AR, my home defense weapon of choice is a 12ga shotgun, which itself is quite destructive. What it lacks is the range and precision of a rifle.
My brother, a Marine, told me to make sure if I had to fire the gun that I aimed for the body mass in the middle. (He said law enforcement is taught that too; none of this shot them in the leg stuff.) He wanted to make sure I was capable emotionally of doing that. I assured him I was. Still am.
Yeah, whenever people say something like, "why didn't they shoot him in the shoulder?", I have to assume they've probably not handled a gun much, let alone under fire. I've never been in a gun fight, but having competed, I can tell you that the stress definitely affects your precision. Unless you've trained a ton, keep it simple.
I'm from Northern Maine. I've seen moose. You still don't need an AR15 for home defense.