There have been a lot of bad takes on the AR-15, among them Joe Biden’s.hot take that a bullet from an AR-15 blows up in the body.
But as I reported on Tuesday, Gretchen Carlson’s post on X took ignorance about the weapon to a new level.
Ordinary people didn’t have AR-15s before 2004. They’re not some time-honored American tradition, they’re a recent mistake that we could fix and save thousands of lives in the process. t.co/IlJ4FuadBP
— Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) October 30, 2023
The internet responded with an impressive ratio to clue her in on a few things, including that many “ordinary people have owned the gun since it was developed in1959. She even earned a Community Note.
Carlson didn’t like being told she was wrong, so she dropped a video in response, making things even worse. Everything she claimed in the video had a problem with it, as she revealed even more ignorance.
A quick message regarding my recent tweet about AR-15s.
CC: @benshapiro @Mediaite @shannonrwatts pic.twitter.com/rIaX2Qju3c
— Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) October 31, 2023
“Big round of applause,” she said for the people who pointed out that “ranchers” and a “few animal control people” had the gun before 2004. No, Gretchen, all kinds of ordinary people had it, as it was available to anyone. Her snark was ridiculous, given the reality. She had no idea what she was talking about.
But Carlson wasn’t finished yet. Then she tried to chastise people over the math and went off the rails.
“And since we’re all big fans of math, here are more numbers that seem relevant,” she said, seemingly thinking she had a “gotcha.” “In 1992, AR-15s comprised roughly 21 of every 100 firearms made in the U.S,” she claimed. “By 2020, almost one in five guns made here were AR-15s.”
Um, Gretchen? 1 in 5 is essentially the same as 21 in 100. Twenty-one percent is essentially the same as 20 percent. But even if your numbers were correct, that would indicate the number of AR-15s had gone down, rather than up as you seem to be claiming. She has no idea about the “math” or what she’s saying here.