It might be the Ruger 10/22, but I don’t think so. After spending the better part of two days walking the exhibit hall floor here at the NRA Meetings and Exposition, I’m convinced that it’s the AR platform. The original was adopted by the US Army first adopted it in 1963. That’s right, 50 years ago. At first there were problems with the weapon, but they were resolved and after that the platform worked reliably. Since then other variations of the gun have been adopted, but the basic platform is still the same. There doesn’t appear to be a plan to replace it for most soldiers in the near future.

Among gun enthusiasts there are still highly esoteric debates about it’s effectiveness, reliability, cost, design, and everything else you can think of. None of which has stopped millions of gun owners from buying them. In fact I know people who have several different variations. They have target, hunting, self defense versions. Walking the exhibit hall floor I was just amazed by the number of companies offering AR platform rifles. That was only outnumbered by the number of companies offering sights, triggers, barrels, fore ends, magazines, bolt carrier groups, and every part you can think of.

Which brings me to the point of this post. The AR platform is a just that, a platform that owners can build into almost endless varieties of rifle. I’m going to hazard a guess that most are built to fire the 5.56 or 223 caliber round, they are also made in .308, 7.62×39, 6.8mm, and even a cross bow upper is available.

Which means that this platform is going to be around for a long time. It’s popular for target shooting, plinking, varmint hunting, deer hunting, hog hunting, and of course self defense. Id politicians do nothing more than rile up the base of AR platform owners, then any attempt to “ban” or regulate “assault weapons” is doomed to fail.

My daughter in law knows very little about firearms. She’s shot with me once and shot with my son a couple of times. She doesn’t think about guns that much, but she recently told my son she wants an AR around the house for protection. So do a number of her friends. They all understand that in the end, it’s up to each person to protect themselves and their families.

I think gun control is doomed.