“The #SecondAmendment is as American a right as freedom of speech, religion, & the press,” Moore wrote on Twitter Tuesday evening. “Today I unveiled my bill to make the AR-15 the National Gun of America. We must send a message that we will meet every attack on any of our constitutional rights.”
If Moore’s proposal were to make it through both the GOP-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate, the AR-15 would take its place beside some of the nation’s most coveted symbols, such as the U.S. flag that was approved by Congress in 1777.
According to a May 2022 report from Insider magazine, there are around 20 million AR-15-style weapons “in circulation” throughout the U.S. In total, American citizens own around 393 million guns, a figure exceeding the national population.
