Columnist Bruce Frassinelli recently broached the hot-button issue of our Second Amendment liberties and the civilian AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. He shouldn’t have. Mr. Frassinelli is obviously out of his water on this topic and displayed a stunning degree of ignorance of the subject matter. His column contains so many misrepresentations and inaccuracies that it’s difficult to know where to begin a rebuttal. Since Mr. Frassinelli makes repeated reference to, and relies upon, the results of a 2022 Washington Post poll of AR-15 owners, let’s start there.

The Washington Post is a far left anti-gun publication. It’s a staunch anti-Second Amendment partisan and its editorials reflect that. So too, its polls and surveys. Anything the Post writes on the subject is biased propaganda. In other words, the Post has a horse in the race and this 2022 poll is just its latest attempt to dupe the uninformed and naive populace.

The Post’s AR-15 poll is demonstrably fraudulent and self-refuting, hardly “authoritative” as Mr. Frassinelli claims. For instance, the Post makes the absurd assertion that no one should own an AR-15, even though (as the Post itself admits) it’s the most popular civilian rifle in America today - a rifle that 16 million Americans legally own.

Mr. Frassinelli thinks the AR-15 is a “heavy-duty weapon.” I suggest he pay attention to what most area deer hunters are carrying in the field for evidence of “heavy-duty weapons.” There are any number of .300 caliber rifles in use for big game hunting that are far more powerful than the AR-15. Many of these .300 caliber rifles are semi-automatics with box magazines, like the AR-15.

Mr. Frassinelli expresses disdain for firearms because of an incident with an air-powered BB-gun in his youth. Let’s keep in mind that a Red Ryder BB-gun is not a firearm. He says he has never held a gun in his hand since that incident. That’s his choice to make. By the same token, Mr. Frassinelli might want to stay in his own lane and confine his opinions to matters he’s familiar with and can write intelligently about.

Ernie Foucault

Kresgeville