The AR-15’s versatility and adaptability has made it the rifle of America’s militia, which is nothing more or less than America’s responsible gun owners. It is within the AR-15 cult that gun owners are likeliest to get the best education in gun safety, the best training for being a responsible gun owner at home, traveling, or on a range. It’s there that they may get the best understanding of where the gun fits into America’s tradition of republicanism. A country of determined men who have arms like the AR-15, or even significantly less-capable rifles, is almost impossible to rule without consent. Just take a look over at Afghanistan…

The dangerous gun owners are the ones who don’t make their gun ownership an occasion for socializing and interacting with other gun owners. It is the loners and paranoiacs. Or the people who inherit a gun and never learn how to use it, or buy a handgun during a period when they feel in danger, but then forget about it until they’ve fallen into a dangerous depression. America’s gun laws are an outlier; that is true. So are the laws and norms that prevent the mentally ill from getting the interventions and supervision they need.