We have heard a lot of, well, interesting arguments against a potential ban on assault weapons in order to curb gun violence, and American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer wants to add his two cents. He argues that modern-day assault weapons are protected by the Constitution because they’re “nothing more than a fancy-pants hunting rifle” equivalent to what the Founding Fathers “used to defeat the British.” In Fischer’s eyes, there’s no difference between an AR-15 and a musket.
Fischer: What they’ve done is — whoever controls the language is going to control the debate. They picked the word ‘assault weapon’ to make it sound bad, to make it sound mean. They’re trying to say the Second Amendment does not protect assault weapons; I say exactly the reverse that is exactly what it protects, that is exactly what it was designed to protect. It was designed to protect the right of the American people to keep and bear arms, the same kind of arms, rifles, assault weapons, military-style weapons that were used to defeat the British. They just used their hunting rifles and used them to defend their independence. So the Second Amendment is exactly designed to protect assault rifles, that’s just nothing more than a fancy-pants hunting rifle.
