By now, everyone has an opinion on the AR-15 and whether or not civilians have any “need” for owning one. In this offering, I will be making my stance clear, and offering my reasons for taking said stance. But I will also take a look at how this has become a political issue and how many are being misled on the entire subject.

In addressing the “need” question, the AR platform offers, hands down, the best home defense option when all factors are considered. Some time ago, I wrote in detail here about the arguments for using the AR-15 for home defense. Now, I am telling you it is the best option.

This isn’t, or at least, shouldn’t be, political. In every aspect I can think of; capacity, felt recoil, ease of accuracy, ease of use, risk of overpenetration, if I fall and the responsibility of home defense falls to my Wife or my Kids, literally everything that should come into consideration when choosing a home defense firearm, the AR-15 is the best choice, by far, end of discussion.

So, does anyone need and AR-15?

Yes. People who want to make the best choice for a home defense firearm need an AR-15.

Now, if you are experiencing ruffled feathers from what you just read, then you have probably been brainwashed by politicians and new media. And probably social media as well. People are taught that standard capacity magazines are to be called “high capacity magazines“. Politicians love to tell us that “If you need 30 rounds to hunt a deer, you shouldn’t be hunting/You don’t need 30 rounds to defend your home.” A casual glance at what is happening around the Nation right now would cause even the most anti-gun person to reconsider their stance on the subject.

We are also bombarded by terms like high-powered assault weapons when run-of-the-mill hunting rifles are far more powerful. And even this ignores the fact that assault weapons and Assault Rifles are made-up terms that have no reality.

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The AR-15 uses a .226 or 5.56 round. What this means in layman’s terms is a .22 caliber bullet, yes, the same bullet that people like to say is a bad self-defense round because of how tiny it is, is supposed to be the scary round. Now, in full disclosure, the 5.56 is going to send the bullet traveling at a much higher rate of speed. But to suggest that the 5.56 is going to cause more damage than the 45-70 is preposterous.

This begs the question then; why are we being told to be afraid of the AR-15? Why is it the target of the anti-gun crowd? More people are killed each year by handguns than AR-15s. Hell, more people are killed each year by hammers than all guns, why go after this one?

It is an easy target for the anti-gun crowd. It has the look of a military rifle, look at how the politicians started calling the AR-15s Weapons of War. It is an easy target, but do not think for one second that the bans would stop there.

I started this post before the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. Regardless of your personal stance on the results, the apparent winner has gone on record stating an “Assault Weapons” ban on day one. If you don’t already own one, they will be out of reach before long, and could quite possibly be a wasted purchase if you do manage to find one. It is a shame that self-defense is now political. Politics ruins everything.