Black Rifles & Tactical Guns

No one needs an AK-47 either

Guns and Gear Contributor
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By Jorge Amselle 

The most popular semi-automatic rifle in America today is the AR, and as I have previously pointed out this is for good reason. Of course any semi-automatic rifle is now suspect and demonized by the media and pundits who routinely ask/state “why does anyone need to own this?” I wonder if they would ask Rosa Parks why she needed to sit in the front of the bus (to paraphrase Ted Nugent). Rights should never require justification.

As much as the AR is viewed with contempt or fear by elitists and the uninformed, the AK ranks several rungs lower. While it is true that the AK lacks the refinement and versatility of the AR it is an eminently suitable rifle for sport and self defense. Also, to be clear, the ARs and AKs Americans buy are not military firearms. They may look like them externally but these are semi-automatic guns that fire once with each pull of the trigger.

Hunt This

Anti-gunners love to brag about how much they love hunting and support the rights of hunters (except when it comes to raising excise taxes on guns and ammo, limiting access to hunting lands, zoning ranges out of business, etc.). Even Senator Dianne Feinstein provided a list of “acceptable” guns free citizens will be allowed to own for hunting in her America. They just want to get rid of the “dangerous” guns.

I am sure the deer lobby will be relieved that they are being shot at with non-dangerous guns. The fact is that depending on what you are hunting, any gun can be used for that purpose. Each gun has its own use and limitations and no gun is perfect for everything. The AK is no exception. There is a reason that over 100 million AKs have been produced worldwide in the past 60 plus years. The rifle works under most any conditions, it is effective, and it is easy to use.

Hunting often involves going outdoors, where there is dirt, and mud, and rain. It can involve going through streams and dense forests. It can involve waiting for a long time. You need a rifle that is reliable and the AK is most certainly that. The most common caliber of the AK, 7.62×39 mm, is ballistically very similar to the .30-30 Winchester which is a very traditional deer hunting round at intermediate distances.

You absolutely can use an AK for hunting and many people do, as well as the identically chambered and roughly similar SKS rifle.

30 Rounds at Least

Magazine capacity is the other bête noir of the anti-gunners. In their mind the only possible reason anyone has for owning a magazine that can accommodate that many rounds is in order to more effectively gun down rooms full on innocent people. Of course once you accept this argument then it is necessary to define what is an acceptable number of people to gun down without reloading.

Dianne Feinstein thinks it s OK if you only gun down 10 people at a time. In Colorado now they say 15 is the limit, any more than that and you’re going to jail pal. New York says that it is OK to pretend you can gun down 10 people but you better not actually try and shoot any more than seven. But why stop there. I’ve heard some people say that a revolver holds six shots so that should be the limit, other say five shots. Joe Biden thinks you only need two. And the big hunting right supporters routinely tell us you only need one shot.

In all fairness many states restrict the number of rounds you can have loaded because it just wouldn’t be sporting otherwise. But my concern isn’t sport but self defense and here a case can most certainly be made for the maximum number of rounds.

I always hear from anti-gunners how only the police should have guns because they are trained. According to studies conducted in New York and California, police officers on average hit suspects with only 30 percent of their shots. Add in low light conditions and the ratio goes down, add in a suspect that is returning fire and the ratio goes down, add in multiple cops shooting at the same suspect and the ratio goes down. In the worst conditions the trained police officer hits about nine percent of what he is shooting at and in most cases it takes multiple hits to subdue a suspect. Still think a homeowner who is awoken and attacked in the middle of the night should be able to get by with six or 10 rounds?

The AK, which can accept a magazine from five to 30 rounds and more, may or may not be ideal for self defense, that depends on where you live and who lives with you, but it is certainly capable of effectively filling that role and 30 rounds is not too many.

If you are fortunate enough to already own an AR, get yourself an AK too. The more the merrier and may as well stock up before our state and federal overlords ban them.

Editor’s note: Jorge wrote the immensely popular article “The AR-15, you don’t need one and they are too dangerous to own” to read that article click here.
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Jorge Amselle is a certified firearms instructor and writer covering all aspects of the industry from military and law enforcement firearms and training to the shooting sports. His youtube channel is http://www.youtube.com/amselle.