Joe Scarborough made a bizarre claim about guns during the most recent episode of “Morning Joe.”
Following several shootings around America, people have been debating what we can do to curb some of the violence we’ve seen unfold. I’ve routinely cautioned people that we need to stick to the facts, but that seems to have gone largely ignored. (POLL: Should Semi-Automatic Guns Be Banned? The Results Are Pure America)
In fact, Scarborough made one of the most insane claims yet when he told his viewers the AR-15 is somehow deadlier than the M16s used in Vietnam.
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— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 6, 2022
“I’ve said this before, I said it a couple weeks ago, and I’ll say it again. This style weapon, deadlier than what we had our soldiers carry around during Vietnam,” Scarborough said on his show Monday morning.
You can watch his full comments in the video below.
Joe Scarborough says AR-15s are “deadlier” than the M16s used during the Vietnam War.
That is completely false. The M16s used during Vietnam were fully automatic.
We need to stick to the facts and the truth when discussing guns. pic.twitter.com/PW4JtuSCZb
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) June 6, 2022
I truly have no idea what the hell Scarborough is talking about, but he is 100% wrong about the M16A1, the weapon of choice in Vietnam, being “deadlier” than the AR-15s you can get at your local gun store.
They both use the 5.56 round, but the M16A1 was capable of selective fire with a rate of fire of 700 to 900 rounds a minute. That’s a rate of fire that is not possible with a semi-automatic weapon.
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— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 1, 2022
Now, it is worth noting that the M16A1 did have some jamming issues that caused problems in the fighting in Vietnam, but is completely irrelevant in terms of a debate about weapons used in shootings in America.
In terms of ability to rapidly fire the same ammunition, the M16A1’s rate of fire absolutely crushes anything you’d ever be able to get out of an AR-15.
Should semi-automatic guns be banned?
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) June 3, 2022
If we’re going to talk about weapons in America, we need to have a conversation based on facts. Telling people semi-automatic weapons are “deadlier” than selective fire weapons carried in Vietnam is just not true, especially when talking about rate of fire.