“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough asserted that the AR-15 is a “weapon of war” — and in just one tweet, Marine combat veteran Johnny Joey Jones turned the tables on his argument.
In the wake of shootings at two New Zealand mosques over the weekend, there was a renewed call from gun control advocates to ban the AR-15 in the United States.
Scarborough tweeted, “Those suggesting the AR-15 was NOT developed as a weapon of war should read up on history.”
Those suggesting the AR-15 was NOT developed as a weapon of war should read up on history. The AR-15 was developed as a military weapon to replace the M-14. Eugene Stoner designed it to be lighter and more lethal than the M-14.
It was far deadlier than the M-16 used in Vietnam.— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 18, 2019
Scarborough went on to insert his own personal interpretation of the Second Amendment as fact, arguing that constitutional protections should not “extend to guns designed as weapons of war.”
As a longtime gun owner and supporter of the Second Amendment, I agreed with the Supreme Court’s “Heller” holding that concluded Americans had the right to keep and bear arms. But that constitutional protection did not, and will not, extend to guns designed as weapons of war.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 18, 2019
But Jones was quick to point out that pretty much all firearms — along with a litany of other things that most people wouldn’t think about — were actually developed primarily for use by the military in a time of war. (RELATED: Double Amputee Johnny Joey Jones Gives Andrew Cuomo A Civics Lesson)
Almost every gun we use was developed as a weapon of war. As well as almost all communication equipment, nautical technology, most cold weather gear, and all our nonperishable foods. https://t.co/lm2EJf97oZ
— Johnny (Joey) Jones (@Johnny_Joey) March 18, 2019
That list included “communication equipment, nautical technology, most cold weather gear, and all our nonperishable foods.”
Jones also could have mentioned duct tape, drones, weather radar, digital cameras, penicillin, synthetic rubber, Jeeps, superglue, epi-pens, sanitary napkins, night vision goggles, aviator sunglasses and the space program — among other things — but Twitter is limited to 280 characters.