An op-ed on Feb. 9 that urged Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick to tilt at the so-called “assault rifle” windmill, employed the most tired hyperbole, particularly that so-called “assault rifles” are made only for the battlefield and are “….capable of killing large numbers of people in just a minute or two.”
Well, if such a characterization is true, then why do police officers all over Bucks County carry these same semi-automatic AR-style “assault rifles” in their patrol vehicles while on duty? Are we expecting a Russian invasion of Bucks County anytime soon, with our officers needing to kill large numbers of people in a minute or two? Why do we allow Bucks County law enforcement officers carry these spectral “weapons of war” if these weapons have no place in civil society?
Could it be that our local police recognize that these purposefully misnamed “assault rifles” are a vital tool to defend oneself against the common criminals already in our midst right here in Bucks County? And since these same local criminals prey chiefly on local citizens, shouldn’t our local citizens get to defend themselves with that same lawful tool until the police can arrive on-scene to help them? Semi-automatic AR-style rifles have been for sale to the public since 1965, but now they seem to have become a trendy target of those trying to stop crime by first disarming law-abiding citizens.
Personally, I’ve lost many more friends to drunk drivers than to criminals wielding assault rifles, but I don’t see a ban on alcohol coming anytime soon. We tried that once, remember? It didn’t work, because only the law-abiding gave up their alcohol.
However since all politics is local, I suggest the author start their crusade by contacting Lower Makefield and demanding removal of AR-style “assault rifles” from the armamentarium of their local police department.
I myself would vigorously oppose such a measure were it proposed in my hometown of Springfield Township, because I see the value of an AR-style rifle in defeating criminal predators, whether it is being wielded by an officer in my local police department or by one of my law-abiding neighbors defending their property until help arrives. But if the author will sleep better by forcibly removing the ownership of AR-style rifles from law-abiding hands, let them start in their own backyard.
Scott Mullen lives in Springfield.
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