President Biden’s Persevering with Misstatements About Weapons

“There is not any justification for a weapon of struggle. None. The velocity of that bullet is 5 instances that that comes out of the muzzle of most weapons. It may well penetrate your vests,” President Biden huffed final week. “What in God’s title do you want an assault weapon for?” he added.

This wasn’t the primary time the president insisted on the supposed superpowers of so-called “assault weapons” and particularly of AR-15s, that are in style amongst gun house owners.

“Do you notice the bullet out of an AR-15 travels 5 instances as quickly as a bullet shot out of some other gun, 5 instances—is lighter—and might pierce Kevlar?” he insisted on August 30 whereas touting his administration’s “Safer America Plan,” which incorporates tighter firearms restrictions.

Actually? Properly, no.

“President Biden’s assertion {that a} bullet shot from an AR-15 travels 5x quicker than a bullet shot out of ‘some other gun’ is fake,” Greg Wallace, a Campbell College legislation professor who focuses on Second Modification points, instructed The Washington Publish early in September. As for bullets fired from AR-15s piercing Kevlar, “that’s true of virtually all centerfire rifle bullets. Physique armor safety towards rifle bullets require metal, ceramic, or composite plates.”

“Biden was clearly flawed in his assertion this week,” the Publish‘s Glenn Kessler concluded.

The truth is, the 5.56x45mm spherical mostly fired by an AR-15 (which will be chambered in a number of calibers) is quicker than many rifle rounds with a muzzle velocity of roughly 3,100 toes per second, however slower than others (a couple of exceed 4,000 fps)….

(Word that Biden’s revised assertion no less than stated it was 5 instances quicker than for “most weapons,” however that is nonetheless not true for rifles, that are the apparent comparator for the AR-15. And even for the shotguns, which the President has advocated, their muzzle velocity tends to be a bit over a 3rd that of the AR-15; the one fashionable weapons which have a muzzle velocity that is one-fifth of AR-15s seem like a handful of handguns. Handguns are a minority of all weapons, and even amongst handguns, many have muzzle velocities of a 3rd or extra of the AR-15.)