# 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:** 1\ **Showing post:** 185
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269/185 "2018-03-13T20:04:32Z")
> [@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. > > 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). According to our local firearms expert posters, the AR-15 is **the best** choice for home defense. > [@](#): > > 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. The idea is not to completely eliminate shootings long term, as that isn’t possible. The idea is to have the trend of shootings going down over the long term, or at least prevent it from going up. If you will only take measures that you think are 100% effective all of the time, then you will never do anything. > [@](#): > > I have absolutely zero concern about killing somebody accidentally or falling into the wrong hands. If you said, “I am responsible, and I will take all reasonable precautions to prevent accidentally killing someone, or allowing my guns to fall into the wrong hands.” then I could get behind that. As it is something that is possible, unless you think that you are taking a measure that is effective 100% of the time, it is something that you should have at least some level of concern about, lest you become complacent. > [@StraightTalk](#): > > 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. HurricaneDikta sleeps in a holster. > [@by k9bfriender](#): > > … Just so we are clear, if you hear the sound of breaking and entering in your house in the dead of night, and you have equally convenient access to a handgun (it can be any handgun you like) and an AR-15, you would choose the AR-15? > [@I don't think banning AR-15s would make a dent in mass shootings.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-think-banning-ar-15s-would-make-a-dent-in-mass-shootings/809700/222): > > Yes, without a doubt. Sitting in my quick-access safe I have four semi-auto pistols, two AR-15s, and two shotguns, all loaded. If I heard breaking glass in the kitchen or downstairs, I’d put a pistol in a holster on my waistband and take one of the AR-15s in my hands to face the threat. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-keep-ar-15-platform-rifles/810269)._