“Commonly owned” is a phrase you will see a lot if you follow the topic of firearms legislation and related court cases. Two pivotal SCOTUS decisions in the last century have used the phrase to describe those arms covered by the 2nd Amendment. Anti-gun lobbyists and legislators, who seem to be professionally underinformed on the topic will often attempt to make many separate cases to illustrate the rightness of their cause, stepping on the toes of each point they make as a new one is born. This is just another in the litany of such cases that are so numerous as to be exhausting to explain, but that’s what we’re here for, so here goes!
One normally doesn’t expect the opposition to airdrop a victory onto your doorstep. Usually a competent opponent will present such opportunities on purpose to disguise their true intent, or lead you into a position of their design, the better to attack and defeat you. Fortunately, those of us invested in preserving the right to keep and bear arms are not often burdened with competent opponents, and in the midst of their fervor to make one point (black rifle scary!), they invalidate another (AR-15s aren’t commonly owned or covered by 2A!).
In this latest example, not only does the Washington Post completely fail to grasp the mechanical and cultural details surrounding the proliferation of the AR-15 as a sporting, hunting, competition, and self-defense platform, but they also shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly, if you’ll pardon the expression. According to their data, 25% of firearms sold in America are AR-15’s, and 1 in every 20 Americans own one. They make this point apparently with the intent of scaring people, but seemingly fail to grasp that in doing so they articulate publicly that they are aware that their attempts to ban them are implicitly unconstitutional, given how commonly owned they are. While we don’t understand how it is they can be so entirely dumb, we are eternally grateful for it.
