November 11th, 2009
The Pittsburg Tribune has a pretty good story on the increasing number of ARs showing up in the hands of hunters: AR-style rifles spurring some debate
(“Spurring some debate” is the unofficial middle name of the AR, by the way.)
There are still some states — just how many the NSSF hopes to determine via survey within a week or so — where it’s illegal to hunt with a semiautomatic rifle.
Pennsylvania is one of those.
“It’s not the AR styling per se. That really has nothing to do with it,” said Scott Tomlinson, law enforcement supervisor in the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s southwest region office in Bolivar. “It has to do with the capacity for shooting multiple rounds.”
That issue is easily addressed with low-capacity magazines. I’ve never really understood that limitation. Is there fear that someone with a 30-round mag is going to mow down an entire herd of deer at once? Do they have tags for all those deer?
Even within the hunting community, some “traditionalist” hunters dislike the rifles. That’s led the NSSF to mount a campaign aimed at getting sportsmen to quit arguing amongst themselves.
Because it’s unusual for gun owners to argue amongst themselves.
You want to really see the fur fly? Call that 5-round low-cap hunting magazine a “clip”.