# Thread for Richmond Gun Rally Mon. Jan. 20 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 18, 2020, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598 "2020-01-18T02:59:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/101 "2020-01-22T01:02:58Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > What’s the distribution? If the majority of AR-15s are concentrated into the hands of relatively few gun owners, then they’re not common despite being numerous. This. Of course, you can’t tell anything certain from internet self-reporting, but many of [these responses to a poster asking for informal information on multiple AR ownership on an ar15.com forum](https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/Do-you-own-multiple-ARs-/118-730299/) indicate, at the very least, that multiple AR ownership is seen as quite unremarkable. > [@](#): > > I have 6 […] > > I’ve got around 30. […] > > I think I have 6 AR’s now. […] > > The point of an AR is to have multiple. […] > > There is absolutely no reason to only own one AR. […] > > Personally, I have dwindled down to only 41 AR-15s (complete), two AR-15 lower assemblies, and one KAC SR-25 Match (Mk11 Mod 0 conversion). […] > > I have.9 AR’s all set up for different purposes. […] > > I have over a dozen AR SBR’s in addition to a bunch of regular AR’s. […] ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/102 "2020-01-22T01:36:37Z")
Thirty or 40 weapons of any kind strikes me as a skosh unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/103 "2020-01-22T01:47:13Z")
Eh, collectors gonna collect, as illustrated by looking at my yarn stash. But we need to distinguish, as **begbert2** noted, between high numbers of owned **items** and high ownership **rates**. Just because Americans buy X million skeins of yarn annually doesn’t mean that a large percentage of Americans own yarn. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/104 "2020-01-22T02:40:52Z")
“In common use”. So even if there’s only a million people firing all these ARs, that seems to qualify. And while anecdote =/= data, most of the AR owners I know have just the one. They have multiple rifles and guns, but they tend to be of different types and makes. If you look at the rifles in question, it’s not just ARs though, it’s all semi-automatic rifles with “assault” features, like mags \>10, or muzzle brake, or collapsible stock - and that adds another number of millions of rifles, and even if many of these are owned by people who have multiple, I have to believe that anything of which there are many millions around is in common use. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/105 "2020-01-22T03:23:40Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > No, what is Orwellian is calling AR rifles assault weapons. Or calling people interested in protecting their gun rights Nazis. Or equating law abiding gun owners with terrorists. I read a lot about the VA gun rally on gun owner bulletin boards, and none of it was fascist, antifa or racist. Gun owners in VA are simply trying to protect their liberty and constitutional rights. You mean all of those gun rights activists who marched through black neighborhoods, heavily armed, carried Confederate and Nazi flags, and did Nazi salutes? Those gun rights activists? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/106 "2020-01-22T03:25:52Z")
> [@Isosleepy](#): > > I’m a little disturbed by the ease with which those wishing to assert their rights to own (certain types of) guns are conflated with right-wing, supremacist or other fringe elements. While there surely is more overlap than with, say, surfing enthousiasts, they are in the end not the same thing. This protest was organized by those who believe that proposed legislation unduly infringes on their rights. Some assholes decided this may be an opportunity to make this about all kind of other things, but they were apparently relatively few and did not succeed. Anyway, it didn’t make it “their thing”. You mean those members of the organizers who were worried that the UN was going to set up roadblocks on Virginia highways and forcibly remove their guns? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/107 "2020-01-22T03:28:40Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > Thirty or 40 weapons of any kind strikes me as a skosh unnecessary. One of the laws the rally was protesting would limit the purchase of guns to only one per month. Horrors, only able to buy twelve guns a year! ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/108 "2020-01-22T04:49:06Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > You mean those members of the organizers who were worried that the UN was going to set up roadblocks on Virginia highways and forcibly remove their guns? No need to restate my post. I was quite clear. The protest was organized, and largely attended by, gun owners who feel their rights are under threat. There were also others, with more vile intentions. I have no idea what any of the organizers believed about the UN. I have no problem believing that in this gathering the proportion of black-helicopter FEMA-death camps believers is higher than the population in general. That doesn’t make all, or even most, of the people there similar idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/109 "2020-01-22T20:39:33Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > No, what is Orwellian is calling AR rifles assault weapons. What does “AR” mean? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/110 "2020-01-22T20:44:11Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > You mean all of those gun rights activists who marched through black neighborhoods, heavily armed, carried Confederate and Nazi flags, and did Nazi salutes? Those gun rights activists? Yes. THOSE Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/111 "2020-01-22T20:49:51Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > You mean those members of the organizers who were worried that the UN was going to set up roadblocks on Virginia highways and forcibly remove their guns? I bet the Nazi bastards were actually disappointed when they were [ol] [li]not arrested[/li][li]were allowed to keep their fucking toys[/li][li]were not brutally attacked by the evil nasty not very nice terribad Antifa or uppity black folks[/li][/ol] I fully believe they wanted to see a lot of violence and bloodshed. But they were hoping to **pretend** they were the honorable and patriotic victims and to be portrayed as such. Fortunately, no one took the bait. Their bullshit narrative was denied. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/112 "2020-01-22T20:53:18Z")
> [@Isosleepy](#): > > No need to restate my post. I was quite clear. The protest was organized, and largely attended by, gun owners who feel their rights are under threat. There were also others, with more vile intentions. I have no idea what any of the organizers believed about the UN. > I have no problem believing that in this gathering the proportion of black-helicopter FEMA-death camps believers is higher than the population in general. That doesn’t make all, or even most, of the people there similar idiots. You can tell a man by the company he keeps. To me, if you yell Nazi slogans with Nazis and march with Nazis and sing Nazi songs with Nazis, GUESS WHAT. I own a gun, I used to own MORE guns, but I wouldn’t be caught dead near any of those motherfuckers. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/113 "2020-01-22T21:31:56Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > What does “AR” mean? Armalite Rifle ([from Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/meaning-of-ar-in-ar-15-firearm/)) > [@](#): > > A frequent misconception about AR-15 firearms, for instance, is that the “AR” in the name stands for “assault rifle.” It does not. AR stands for ArmaLite Rifle, reflecting the company name (ArmaLite) of the original manufacturer of the weapon. Although ArmaLite sold the design of the rifle to Colt in 1959, the term “AR-15” has persisted and acts as a catch-all for similar guns… ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/114 "2020-01-22T21:36:07Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > What does “AR” mean? AR is the abbreviation for Armalite Rifle, the company that designed the rifle. The “A” has nothing to do with “assault” or “automatic” or anything else. You can easily verify this by a multitude of websites online. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/115 "2020-01-24T20:46:52Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > No shit! What is with people that are apparently “adults” donning full body armor and walking around with 50 BMGs? And your celebrity appearance is Alex Dumbshit Jones? Gun NUTS is an apt description. They make me want to puke. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598/116 "2020-01-24T21:12:42Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > What does “AR” mean? > [@DinoR](#): > > Armalite Rifle ([from Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/meaning-of-ar-in-ar-15-firearm/)) > [@Orwell](#): > > AR is the abbreviation for Armalite Rifle, the company that designed the rifle. The “A” has nothing to do with “assault” or “automatic” or anything else. You can easily verify this by a multitude of websites online. Immortalized in song way back in 1978 by [Gang Of Four - Armalite Rifle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQnOL_T6rc0) > [@](#): > > Armalite rifle police and IRA > Armalite rifle use it everyday > Breaks down easy fits into a pram > A child can carry it do it no harm > Armalite rifle and the holy trinity > It’s used against you for Irish jokes and the BBC > Armalite rifle please skew the aim > Armalite rifle use it everyday > The rifle does harm it shoots for miles > If a bullet gets you in the heart destroys your insides > Armalite rifle police duty eh? > Armalite rifle use it everyday > It’ll do you damage it’ll do you harm > Blow your legs off blow your guts out > I disapprove of it so does Dave > It’ll do you damage it’ll do you damage > Damage damage damage damage damage [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-for-richmond-gun-rally-mon-jan-20/846598.md?page=5)