“You hunt with THAT?!?!”
How many times? How often have you heard it said?
No one uses these guns to Hunt with?
Many a left leaning anti rights politician & celebrity who is often uneducated on the subject of Firearms and barely cognizant of the 2nd Amendment will make these claims. Famously, Gerarldo, Whoopi, Beahard (sp).including our inept career politician President old Joe Biden has said, “No one needs an AR15 to hunt deer” but again he is also quoted as recommending the illegal act of “Shooting a Shotgun in the air from your porch” to scare bad guys away… we doubt he remembers making those public recommendations.
The fact is that semi-auto hunting rifles (and pistols) have been around more than a 100yrs now… not just since the AR was invented and then put into service with our Armed Forces for Vietnam and beyond. However, there has never been a more prolific style or format of rifle in the hands of civilians than the AR platform.
We can recognize that most primary rifle platforms were invented and used in military or National Defense strategies before being allowed or finding their way into civilian hands. The same as Long Bows were once used to defend borders, castles, and fight wars with as well and restricted from use by normal law abiding citizens. So when the argument inevitably starts with the comments… “These are weapons of war”, that’s usually a comment made by an uneducated anti gun advocate who was never taught history from that perspective. Gun Powder itself was invented directly for the purpose of military use before later being applied to uses that hunters could put game on the table for their families.
In reality today, quietly under the radar… I feel safe saying that more Hunters use an AR while hunting than any other platform nationally. There is numerous sources that help us make that claim. The NRA has polled hunters, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has surveyed hunters, and the 2022 Ammunition Consumption Study by Winchester Ammunition als helps us make those claims. Such data shows us recreationally, that approximately 75% of those shooting Center Fire Rifles in 2021 where shooting ARs (they like to use the term MSRs – Modern Sporting Rifles in an attempt to be PC) and that 60% of Hunters using a Center Fire Rifles used an AR platform when hunting in 2021 as well. The anti gun politicians will not hear any of that and continue to use misleading talking points on repeat to hope that no one is paying attention to their lies.
This is WHY community matters!
Hunters, who are obviously familiar, comfortable, and commonly using ARs to hunt with, need to stick together, band together and form a voice that can be recognized and not silenced in the larger conversation about Hunting. More importantly, be a voice that also stands for your Gun and 2nd Amendment Rights.
Through community, let’s create awareness as well as a voice for actionable issues that arise from attempts in politics to restrict your choices in Hunting. As a community let’s also look and be cool while doing it! (SHOP). Through our retail sales we intend to support projects that bring awareness, promote the use of ARs while hunting as more openly common place, as well as help foster the correct influence needed to educate the middle ground non firearms users about the issues as well and try and win their support even if they are not firearms users or hunters themselves.