You don’t.
The AR-15 is a civilian version of the M-16 rifle lacking the selector switch to fire automatically (unless it’s been illegally modified with a readily-available kit) and a bayonet lug.
I trained on both the M-14 and M-16 in basic, and was married to an M-16 for 13 months in Vietnam. When my tour was over, I couldn’t divorce myself from it fast enough. I’ve fired many kinds of military weapons, including machineguns, and there’s no thrill in it for me. I had my fill of guns and shooting.
I’m not a hunter, but I’m not against hunting. I understand the need to keep deer populations under control, and to deal with nuisances like wild pigs, and I have no inclination to interfere with someone else’s sport.
I’m not against guns for self-defense, either; I have friends who live in rural areas where, if you call 911, it may take the police 30 or 45 minutes to arrive, so they keep guns in their homes. However, I believe guns are overrated for protection; most home defense experts recommend getting a large noisy dog instead.
But letting civilians, much less teenagers, wield weapons of war never made sense to me (see, e.g., teen vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse; and the endless parade of disturbed teenagers attacking schools with AR-15s). If you’re going to have these things around, at least raise the purchase and possession age to 21.
It doesn’t make sense to Michael Fanone, either, the former D.C. cop who was assaulted, injured, and was disabled by the Capitol riot. Apart from his personal bias against violent revolutionaries who taser, stab, and throw objects at cops, on a purely rational level he doesn’t see why you need one or what you’d use it for.
He says, “I own one. And one thing I know for sure is that this weapon doesn’t belong in the hands of the average civilian.”
This is from a guy who’s been a cop, a firearms instructor, is an NRA member, and owns a variety of guns for hunting and self-defense. He explains, “I’ve got a gun that I use for turkey hunting, one that I use for waterfowl, and one I use to hunt deer and larger game like elk.” But now that he’s retired from police work, his AR-15 is gathering dust.
He explains, “I purchased my AR-15 because I was assigned one as part of my police duties. But officers weren’t allowed to take our department-issued weapons home. I felt it was my responsibility to become proficient with any weapon I’d been assigned, so I bought one. And I’ve spent hundreds of hours training so that I could properly use it.”
And there’s the rub. Military personnel and cops are trained to use these things. Under supervision. Subject to discipline. Letting civilians buy them, take them home, and stash them in a closets isn’t remotely the same thing. (People who join private militias often train with them, but not for legitimate purposes.)
Fanone, who’s also worked in firearms sales, says, “People want one because they want one. … I’ve pressed some customers about why they want an AR-15, but no one could ever come up with a legitimate justification for needing that particular weapon.” The ones who get specific, he says, typically say, “We need these weapons because we want to be effective against the government if it becomes tyrannical.”
He finds that “ludicrous.” He could add “dangerous.” Do we really want laws that arm violent anti-government revolutionaries on a part with the military and police?
Fanone favors outlawing AR-15s, and believes if possessing them was no longer legal, many of those in circulation would be turned in. But if we’re not going to do that, he suggests reclassifying them as Class 3 firearms, which allows people to purchase and possess them, but they “would have to go through a background check, fingerprinting and review by an official from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — a process that takes anywhere from 12 to 16 months. And since Class 3 weapons can’t be purchased by anyone younger than 21, it would solve the issue of emotionally unstable 18-year-olds buying them.”
He mentions the high cost of ammunition. He says a buck a round, but I just looked online, and found places that sell bulk .223 ammo in 1,000-round lots for around $500 or 50 cents a round. So a 30-round magazine holds $15 worth of cheap ammo. People complain about $5 gas but willingly spend their money on that. Feeding a dog makes more sense. Your kids can play with the dog.
Read Fanone’s remarks here.