Advertising is a form of marketing communication used to promote or sell a product, service or idea. This covers a lot of ground, from companies that use it to make their products desirable, to politicians that want you to buy into their views. It can be positive or negative, such as explaining the health benefits of a particular food, or smearing the reputation of an opposing political candidate.

Whatever agenda is being pursued, today’s information media acts as a mouthpiece for the highest bidder.

While rifles such as the AR-15 have been characterized by the anti-gun lobby as “assault weapons”, it is entirely a semantic manipulation. A firearm is simply a mechanical device, and is just as capable of “assaulting” someone of its own volition as a fork or a baseball bat or a vehicle. It is the person who chooses to employ something as a weapon in the commission of a crime, whether it’s a knife or a rock or a gun.  

A classic hunting rifle with a fancy wood stock and engraved water fowl on the receiver is does not meet the criteria to be an assault rifle. Despite the fact that many hunting rifles are semi-automatic just like the AR-15 and fire much larger calibers which are capable of far more devastation, their mere appearance excludes them from the frenzied calls to ban the bad, black rifle.

Remington's Magnum 00-buck shotgun load has 12 pellets, each with a .33 caliber diameter - about 1 1⁄8 ounces of shot - launched at almost 1,300 fps. In a shotgun with 8 round capacity, that’s 96 .33 caliber bullets that can fly downrange in a very short time. But of course, it’s just a shotgun…

Less than 1 in 50 of all prisoners that were incarcerated for a violent crime obtained a firearm from a retail source, and possessed, carried or used it during the offense for which they were imprisoned. Among the 287,400 prisoners who had possessed a firearm during their offense, more than half stole it, found it at the scene of the crime, or obtained it off the street or the underground market. That’s the reality of where people get guns to commit crimes. Only 1.3% of prisoners obtained a gun from a retail store. Many studies have clearly indicated that higher rates of gun ownership are not associated with higher rates of violent crime. 

At Metro Pawn & Gun, we stock AR-15 rifles, along with the more benign hunting rifles, shotguns and handguns. We believe the 2^nd Amendment is not up for debate, and we follow the laws concerning firearms to the letter. Visit us for all of your firearm needs – as the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.