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It’s always a welcome surprise to see support of any kind for the Second Amendment in the pages of a U.S. newspaper, so I hate to take issue with Rafael Perez’s defense of AR-15s and other semi-automatic firearms. While I appreciate Perez’s viewpoint, I still believe he’s offering some bad advice for Second Amendment advocates when it comes to defending our right to keep and bear arms.
Perez,adoctoralcandidateattheUniversityofRochester,arguesinthepagesoftheOrangeCounty(California)Register newspaperthatgunownersshouldembracechoosingfreedomoversafety.Ithinkwe’dbebetteroffmakingthecasethatbansonsemi-automaticriflesandanyotherfirearmdesignatedasan“assaultweapon”don’tmakeusanysafer,buttheycertainlymakeuslessfree.
Gunrightssupportersmayshyawayfromstatingthatthey’rechoosinggreaterfreedomoverthelivesoffellowAmericans.Theymayclaimthattheiroppositiontoguncontrolissubstantiallymotivatedbypreservingourabilitytodefendourselvesandthus,thatresistingguncontrolisinactualityprioritizingsafety.
Butifwelooka
