# Why I Keep AR-15 Platform Rifles **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269 "2018-03-08T23:54:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/161 "2018-03-13T12:41:35Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > That’s what I meant by “and if I’ve been smart myself” — positioning myself so as to not be vulnerable. But if I am vulnerable, then I don’t draw, and my weapon remains concealed. So you would only use it if you _didn’t_ need to? Curious. > [@](#): > > Deterrence is my first option. Why do you day it is not? Because you’re carrying concealed, not open. The “bad guy” has to be able to see it to know you’ve got it, right? He’s only deterred if he doesn’t start. So, again, why is that not your first option? > [@](#): > > If he draws first (or she), then I am at their mercy. (I may also have made mistakes up to that point, but that’s another story.) But he does not know I have a gun, and that is to my advantage. If it means he feels safe in drawing first, how is that to \*your \*advantage? > [@](#): > > If he doesn’t draw first, then if he acts such that I have reasonable fear for my life (or my wife’s life), then I may choose to draw and take control of the situation. How are you in fear of something he doesn’t do? Please explain. Do you feel justified in taking the life of someone who hasn’t presented a threat to you? > [@](#): > > If, God forbid, I’ve had to take a life, then I better be damn well certain that a jury of my California peers would also agree that it was warranted. Given the above, how would you make such a case? “He was black and I was scared” does work sometimes, but usually only if you wear a blue uniform or are in Florida. Don’t count on your deity to buy that shit at all. > [@](#): > > Yes, an untrained and unarmed person might be more of a victim if s/he tries to present a threat. Or they might be able to take control of the situation and impose their will on the alleged criminal. But not _you_, no. _You’re_ trained and disciplined, an expert marksman, cool-headed, able to quickly and accurately assess any situation you might be thrust into, truly a superhero among mortals, always on the side of Justice, a Good Guy by your own definition. Not like all those \*other \*schmucks who get in the news every day. Who besides yourself is convinced by that claim, and why should they be? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/162 "2018-03-13T14:06:38Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Your point is? 99.9% of teens taking these drugs don’t hurt anyone. Plus you’d have to consider what they would do if they were off the drugs. > If you are saying, however, that anyone on one of these drugs should not be permitted near a gun, you might have something. It would probably reduce the suicide rate a lot more than the murder rate, but it’s still good. Yes I would consider disallowing access to guns for young adults on certain drugs. > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Yes, but this particular country is deterring 90% of murders. They just don’t happen there. How are they doing this, when their population is denied the opportunity for personal defense weaponry? > > Every other “non-shithole” country in the world has figured out how to deter 50-90% of the murders we live with here. We are a country awash in personal defense weapons, and it hasn’t deterred jack-all. > > As I suggested in my prior posts, on an individual level, in your personal bubble, a gun may reduce your chance of being murdered, but once you get outside your bubble, the reality is that your ability to buy a gun to defend yourself makes it a hell of a lot more likely that you’re going to get shot at by some asshole. What country is that? > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > So you would only use it if you _didn’t_ need to? Curious. Really? I use it only as a last resort. > [@](#): > > Because you’re carrying concealed, not open. The “bad guy” has to be able to see it to know you’ve got it, right? He’s only deterred if he doesn’t start. So, again, why is that not your first option? He can be deterred once he starts, when his actions are clear. It’s a deterrent because I will have prevented him from inflicting more harm. > [@](#): > > If it means he feels safe in drawing first, how is that to \*your \*advantage? It is to my advantage to be armed. If I wasn’t armed, I’m at a huge disadvantage. And that is true whether he has drawn a weapon, or not. But if he is pointing a gun at me, this is now a very precarious situation. > [@](#): > > How are you in fear of something he doesn’t do? Please explain. I said… _**if he acts such that I have reasonable fear for my life (or my wife’s life)**_, so he has already done something. > [@](#): > > Do you feel justified in taking the life of someone who hasn’t presented a threat to you? Silly. > [@](#): > > Given the above, how would you make such a case? “He was black and I was scared” does work sometimes, but usually only if you wear a blue uniform or are in Florida. Don’t count on your deity to buy that shit at all. The situation has to be such that a reasonable jury would also agree that I was justified in defending myself. If the situation is not, then use of deadly force is not warranted. > [@](#): > > But not _you_, no. _You’re_ trained and disciplined, an expert marksman, cool-headed, able to quickly and accurately assess any situation you might be thrust into, truly a superhero among mortals, always on the side of Justice, a Good Guy by your own definition. Not like all those \*other \*schmucks who get in the news every day. Who besides yourself is convinced by that claim, and why should they be? If the dangerous situation has presented itself, and it’s just you and your family and the criminal, and you have no means of escape, and he is doing bodily harm, would you want a means to defend yourself and your family? I answer yes. How do you answer? ---
**Author:** ![StraightTalk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straighttalk/32/9982_2.png) [@StraightTalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StraightTalk)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/163 "2018-03-13T15:32:35Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > on the other hand, you didn’t have a president [repeal a law providing for mental health facilities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of_1980) (under the usual auspices of “let the states handle it.” ) only to have state governments then proceed to [gut their own programs and institiutions.](http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2010-04-14/mental-health/mental-health-care-in-mi-a-decade-after-closing-many-institutions/a13446-1) There’s an abandoned one [in Northville, MI](http://photos.metrotimes.com/13-eerie-photos-of-the-haunted-northville-psychiatric-hospital/?slide=1&8636420310_873b738813_k-1) which was closed years ago and sits decaying ever since. > > the US policy on mental health is “he/she is the parents’ problem until they’re 18, then if they harm someone we’ll throw them in prison.” I think this is the hole that Nikolas Cruz fell in. He was a mentally ill minor but once he turned 18, the slate was wiped clean, he can refuse treatment and he could do whatever he wanted until he did something that harmed someone else. Unfortunately, what he did was extreme. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/164 "2018-03-13T15:47:00Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Your point is? 99.9% of teens taking these drugs don’t hurt anyone. Plus you’d have to consider what they would do if they were off the drugs. > If you are saying, however, that anyone on one of these drugs should not be permitted near a gun, you might have something. An extremely high%\* of owners of legal guns don’t commit crimes with them either. This doesn’t, or shouldn’t, preclude any proposal for gun control. Rather, very high % of X doesn’t result in harm isn’t a convincing argument against worrying about either over- medication or guns. \*no need to pull a figure out of the air like you did, the % who don’t is obviously very high in both cases. Gun crimes, in general not limited to the small % of them which are mass shootings, have the additional characteristic of being committed overwhelmingly with illegal guns; illegal abuse of psychotropic drugs is significant but not as large a part of the problem with them. Anyway the fact that ‘the great majority’ of legal possession or use of either doesn’t result in harm isn’t a convincing argument by itself against revised regulation of the possession or use of either. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/165 "2018-03-13T15:52:08Z")
I don’t own an AR-15. I don’t own a gun period. But if any serious legislation comes down the pike to ban their sale, either at a state or federal level, you can be damn sure I’m going to pick one up. I have no fantasies about zombie apocalypse, or some home invasion, or what ever. Hell, I may not even fire a shot, though I might plink at a range. I think a compact shotgun is better for home defense any day of the week. If I’m every feeling I’m needing home defense I’m gonna pick up one of [these puppies](https://www.keltecweapons.com/shotguns/ksg). I do think we have a right to bear arms, and I think targeting current legal guns is completely stupid as [I allude to in my previous post](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=850167). You want to completely eliminate shootings long term, you’re going to have to ban and confiscate every gun in america. 2nd amendment advocates know this, and “gun control” advocates know this too. Some are even [coming right out and saying it.](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/opinion/guns-second-amendment-nra.html) Fortunately I don’t think that will ever happen, so I likely will never buy an AR. I have absolutely zero concern about killing somebody accidentally or falling into the wrong hands. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/166 "2018-03-13T16:06:53Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > What country is that? Pick a country, any country. Literally pick any country that isn’t some 3rd world shithole. You’re pretty much guaranteed to pick a country with a murder rate 50%+ lower than in the US, and with far more restrictive firearms laws. If you’re interested in where Isamu lives, his posts indicate that he’s in Osaka, Japan, where there’s a reported homicide rate of 0.31 per 100k people, vs. the US with 4.88 per 100k ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/167 "2018-03-13T16:12:20Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > I have absolutely zero concern about killing somebody accidentally or falling into the wrong hands. Neither do most prior to killing someone accidentally or having their weapon(s) fall into the wrong hands. The fact that you would have zero concern after acquiring this weapon is exactly what concerns _me_ about your acquiring it. ---
**Author:** ![StraightTalk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straighttalk/32/9982_2.png) [@StraightTalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StraightTalk)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/168 "2018-03-13T16:25:05Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I grew up in a kinda rough neighborhood in Atlanta, in a house that would get broken into all the time–one time when the family was fast asleep. > > As an adult, I’ve lived in some rough places. Newark, Miami, Richmond. And I take risks. I walk home from work at night all by myself, even though I have a slight build and wouldn’t be able to fight out an attacker if my life depended on it. > > I can’t relate to the fear expressed in the OP. Not even a little bit. I don’t get fear from the OP. All I get is awareness. I get the feeling that some of you envision Bone walking around his house wearing a holster with a gun that he draws and has at the ready every time the doorbell rings. I don’t think that is the case AT ALL. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/169 "2018-03-13T16:37:49Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Really? I use it only as a last resort. One which you could have prevented right at the beginning, if you had wanted to. > [@](#): > > He can be deterred once he starts, when his actions are clear. You have an unusual understanding of deterrence, then. For most, it means keeping something from starting. > [@](#): > > It’s a deterrent because I will have prevented him from inflicting more harm. And not made him scared enough to escalate it, especially when he has the advantage? Seriously? > [@](#): > > It is to my advantage to be armed. If there’s a gun pointed at you by somebody willing enough and scared enough to fire, and yours is still in your belt, that doesn’t seem to be an advantage for you. If you then expose it and give him more reason to fire, the situation would seem to have turned against you even more so. > [@](#): > > I said… _**if he acts such that I have reasonable fear for my life (or my wife’s life)**_, so he has already done something. Only after you let it get to that state, when you could have prevented it. Tell the jury. > [@](#): > > Silly. Does that mean you can always find a way to tell yourself you were in the right? Yes, it’s human nature to justify one’s own actions in a way one will believe. But that doesn’t make it correct. > [@](#): > > The situation has to be such that a reasonable jury would also agree that I was justified in defending myself. If the situation is not, then use of deadly force is not warranted. True. Are you going to think that fast or that accurately, with the adrenalin pouring? > [@](#): > > If the dangerous situation has presented itself, and it’s just you and your family and the criminal, and you have no means of escape, and he is doing bodily harm, would you want a means to defend yourself and your family? I answer yes. How do you answer? Don’t let it get to that point. You don’t need to. > [@Ashtura](#): > > I don’t own an AR-15. I don’t own a gun period. But if any serious legislation comes down the pike to ban their sale, either at a state or federal level, you can be damn sure I’m going to pick one up. Why? All that money for something you’re not going to use? > [@](#): > > I have absolutely zero concern about killing somebody accidentally or falling into the wrong hands. There are people in the news every day who thought the same thing. What makes you different? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/170 "2018-03-13T16:58:56Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > … Don’t let it get to that point. You don’t need to. … “There are people in the news every day who thought the same thing. What makes you different?” ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/171 "2018-03-13T17:03:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Why? All that money for something you’re not going to use? Quite simply, because I can. An AR-15 easily fits in my budget. The only reason I don’t have one, and most likely never will, is because buying one is easy. I have lots of things I don’t need. I’m no more gonna destroy a perfectly good gun like these other bozos than I would a Dodge Challenger because it ran over a protester. > [@](#): > > There are people in the news every day who thought the same thing. What makes you different? I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m saying I have zero concern about it. It’d be in a gun safe gathering dust unless I wanted to plink around with it. Like I said, if actually get concerned about home safety I’m buying a shotgun. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/172 "2018-03-13T17:27:27Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > What if #5 does happen, but due to restrictions and such only 5 people in the entire country of ill intent possess weapons? Better or worse than today? If there were only 5 people? Surely that would be better from a overall crime point of view. But this posits something sufficiently unrealistic it may as well be magic. > [@](#): > > There have been many situations where power and phones are out. Look at the Napa fires. Was it necessary for civilians to use weapons in these cases? > > … > > You seem to be visualizing a limited set of circumstances, and ignoring those equally or more likely that could come out badly for you. Of course each event is situational. What sort of circumstances do you think I’m ignoring? But yes, most cases of service disruption don’t descend into the LA Riots. Even when [Oakland periodically riots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_riots), it doesn’t descend into the level of mayhem that LA did. Or that New Orleans did. But it’s not [like local civil unrest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_civil_unrest_in_the_United_States) doesn’t happen - it does. Is it worthwhile for people to be prepared to meet force with force if necessary? That’s up to the individual, IMO. Lots of things can be done before arming up that may have more utility. For me, and my situation, the marginal cost is low enough that it’s worth my while. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/173 "2018-03-13T17:59:06Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > An extremely high%\* of owners of legal guns don’t commit crimes with them either. This doesn’t, or shouldn’t, preclude any proposal for gun control. Rather, very high % of X doesn’t result in harm isn’t a convincing argument against worrying about either over- medication or guns. > > \*no need to pull a figure out of the air like you did, the % who don’t is obviously very high in both cases. Gun crimes, in general not limited to the small % of them which are mass shootings, have the additional characteristic of being committed overwhelmingly with illegal guns; illegal abuse of psychotropic drugs is significant but not as large a part of the problem with them. Anyway the fact that ‘the great majority’ of legal possession or use of either doesn’t result in harm isn’t a convincing argument by itself against revised regulation of the possession or use of either. The person I was responding to seemed to be correlating drug use with gun violence. Since he is okay with preventing people on these drugs from getting guns, his views are consistent, and I have no argument with them. As for the percentage argument. A very high percentage of drivers never hurt anyone, yet we still license them. A very high percentage of DWI trips don’t result in accident or injuries, yet we try to prevent them. It would seem the absolute number of gun fatalities is enough that some sort of licensing or regulation is reasonable. That’s the case for near every other risk factor, isn’t it? If we made these drugs as easy to get as guns, we wouldn’t have to worry about illegal use of them, would we? Just the impact of their use. Lucky there is no constitutional amendment about the right to take drugs. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/174 "2018-03-13T18:13:12Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > Quite simply, because I can. You go on to tell us the reason you haven’t yet is that nobody has told you not to, so it wouldn’t feel good enough yet. Not real impressive logic. > [@](#): > > I’m not saying it’s impossible. I’m saying I have zero concern about it. It could happen, but you just don’t give a shit. Gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/175 "2018-03-13T18:18:46Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > If there were only 5 people? Surely that would be better from a overall crime point of view. But this posits something sufficiently unrealistic it may as well be magic. The number was chosen to demonstrate the extreme. You seemed to be implying hordes of bad guys with guns against a helpless unarmed population. But any effort to get all the guns (something I’m not for, btw) would get the guns of a lot of bad guys also. So I think you were engaging in a bit of scare mongering. > [@](#): > > Of course each event is situational. What sort of circumstances do you think I’m ignoring? But yes, most cases of service disruption don’t descend into the LA Riots. Even when [Oakland periodically riots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_riots), it doesn’t descend into the level of mayhem that LA did. Or that New Orleans did. But it’s not [like local civil unrest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_civil_unrest_in_the_United_States) doesn’t happen - it does. Is it worthwhile for people to be prepared to meet force with force if necessary? That’s up to the individual, IMO. Lots of things can be done before arming up that may have more utility. For me, and my situation, the marginal cost is low enough that it’s worth my while. I don’t live that far from Oakland, and am quite familiar with the riots. They happened mostly in the business district (where these things do) and not in residential districts. I don’t recall the LA riots affecting many residences either. Louisiana is a gun-friendly state - do you have links to stories about lots of people using their guns to fend off looters in their flooded houses? Hell, if my first floor was flooded, I’d welcome the looters to steal my water-logged valuables. Save on the cleanup bills. Monetarily you can probably afford all the guns you want, but that isn’t the issue. The cost to you is more the risk, including that of killing yourself if you get depressed. I’d say the benefit of protecting yourself from incredibly low probability events is less than this. It isn’t just guns. The people who owned my house before me were Mormons, and when they build the addition they added a separate room, accessible from the outside, where they stored emergency supplies which seems to be mandated by the church. (Mormons, let me know if this is wrong.) The first thing we did when we bought the house was to smash through the wall expanding a tiny bedroom into a nice office suite, where I am typing now. In 21 years the utility of the room they way they intended would have been 0, the utility of my office is high. We do have emergency supplies in our garage, being close to the Hayward Fault. If I had been brought up being told in church about the coming apocalypse I might have considered the benefit of emergency supplies much higher, but that would have been just from being scared. I submit your actions come from you being scared. Given the way the news media works, it is not surprising. But I still contend that you are making a choice that increases your risk instead of decreasing it. Also, consider that your view increases the number of bad guys with guns, since screening them seems to put an unacceptable burden on the good guys. That increases your risk also, as well as those of us who choose not to own guns. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/176 "2018-03-13T18:26:38Z")
An AR-15 is more than “just a tool for murdering people” It’s an excellent tool for home defense. I’d much rather have an AR-15 than a Magnum to defend my home considering how wildly inaccurate handguns are and how ungainly any handgun with decent stopping power is. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/177 "2018-03-13T18:29:08Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > It could happen, but you just don’t give a shit. Gotcha. I do lots of things that have a lot greater statistical chance of potentially getting someone killed than a gun locked up in a gun safe gathering dust. Not gonna lose sleep over it. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/178 "2018-03-13T18:34:40Z")
> [@](#): > > seems to be mandated by the church. (Mormons, let me know if this is wrong.) Ex here. Not mandated, but suggested. A year supply used to be suggested. That’s also gone down to 3 months I believe. It was never specifically about an apocalypse. Early mormons were subject to a lot of hardships that would make something like this a reasonable idea. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/179 "2018-03-13T18:43:04Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > An AR-15 is more than “just a tool for murdering people” It’s an excellent tool for home defense. I’d much rather have an AR-15 than a Magnum to defend my home considering how wildly inaccurate handguns are and how ungainly any handgun with decent stopping power is. Defending your home against what? What is the level of suspicion-of-threat that leads you to head directly for the gun safe to remove your rifle? Do you advance through the house with it at your shoulder? Supposing you don’t have spider-sense, how does this play out if the intruder stumbles upon you before you know they’re there? Are you concerned about damage to your house from errant gunfire? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/180 "2018-03-13T18:46:20Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > I do lots of things that have a lot greater statistical chance of potentially getting someone killed than a gun locked up in a gun safe gathering dust. Not gonna lose sleep over it. Then why waste your money “just to prove a point”? Do you plan on telling people you have it? If not, what does your secret protest move do for whatever it is you are promoting here? If you plan on telling people about it while letting the rifle collect dust in locked storage, why not just tell people you did it and forgo the actual purchase-who would know the difference? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269.md?page=10)