WASHINGTON—Shedding light on the enduring appeal behind assault rifle ownership, a Pew study released Monday revealed that more Americans were buying AR-15s to defend themselves from toddlers who found their guns. “Many Americans stressed that they felt safer knowing they had an AR-15 at the ready in case their toddler stumbled across a shoebox holding a loaded gun on the floor of a closet and started firing away,” said researcher Jonathan Lieu, noting that the majority of AR-15 owners told his team they purchased the lightweight rifle due to their recurring fears about waking in the night to their 2-year-old giggling as they shot bullet holes through the bedroom door. “One response we often heard was that it was a Second Amendment right for gun owners to defend themselves against their own young children. They also stressed that a baseball bat or pepper spray simply wasn’t enough firepower to take down their gun-toting kids.” Lieu added that many Americans also rushed out to purchase tear gas grenades after their children inevitably got their hands on the AR-15s.

  • shadowSprite@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I dont subscribe to this community, but sometimes when I switch to all I see it as I’m scrolling. I hate that damn near everytime it almost gets me before I notice which community it is. I read the post title and for just a second I’m like, that seems just a little too much even for the fearmonger sites to try to pull over, and then damn, the onion has gotten me again. The onion never used to get me. I hate our timeline.