Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) has introduced a legislation calling for the AR-15 rifle to be named the ‘National Gun of America.’
“The #SecondAmendment is as American a right as freedom of speech, religion, & the press,” Moore wrote on Twitter. “Today I unveiled my bill to make the AR-15 the National Gun of America. We must send a message that we will meet every attack on any of our constitutional right.”
Congressional records show Moore introduced the bill Friday but there’s not a full text as yet.
The AR-15 style weapon is the most popular rifle in America with about 20 million in circulation. It is also the weapon used in some of the deadliest massacres in the country, including the Robb Elementary School massacre in 2022, Buffalo supermarket in 2022, Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Parkland High School in 2018, and Texas WalMart in 2019.
After the massacres at Robb Elementary and Buffalo supermarket last year, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan gun safety legislation into law that incentivizes states to pass red flag laws, prevents people convicted of domestic abuse from owning a gun not just spouses and former spouses but dating partners as well, and expanded background checks on people between the ages of 18 and 21 who are trying to buy a gun.
Moore voted against the bill in the House and slammed lawmakers for trying to eliminate the second amendment.
“The most fundamental job of a Congressman is to protect your liberties, and I take that duty incredibly seriously,” Moore wrote at the time according to Newsweek. “An assault on one constitutional right is an attack on them all, and I will continue doing all I can to fight those seeking to seize power from the people and give it to the government.”
[Image by Luke Sharrett/The New York Times]
