We are annoyed by the assumption on the part of certain public figures that the citizen should be able to prove the need to acquire a means of protecting himself. The citizen’s personal needs are no business of the state. Liberty, when in place, grants the right of the citizen to do what he chooses as long as he does not stamp on the rights of others. Nobody needs caviar or a pleasure boat or opera tickets. Whether he wants these things is, again, no business of the state.
Jeff Cooper
I know that this quote is not new. But, I had never heard/read it and figured that maybe a few readers here may not have as well.
I found this gem in the April 2010 issue of Guns & Ammo. There is also a good article about how the M16 got a bad rap in Vietnam, at no fault of its own, and how to this day it and all of it’s variants still carry that stigma.
I’ve read that story of the bad rap/contracting feud before.
I’ve also heard, close up and personal, from my best buddy who served in that war in the USAF, how he and his fellow airmen, given duty at Bien Hoa AFB on the perimeter (duty for which the USAF didn’t train him), had to spend most of their off-duty time measuring the Cartridge Overall Length of every round issued (lots of ammo!), because the first M-16s didn’t have Forward Bolt Assist, and an overlength round (common then) couldn’t be chambered.
Other than THAT little FUBAR, he said that the M-16 was a fine rifle (if you kept it clean).
Strangely though, he doesn’t own an AR today. His 5.56 NATO rifle is a Steyr AUG….