By Walter Einenkel for Daily Kos

According to both Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado and Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, vermin like “prairie dogs” and “raccoon” are the main targets for people owning AR-15-style, semiautomatic rifles. The longer . 223 bullet round that travels at a far higher velocity than many rifles and handguns, and delivers considerably more foot-pounds of force, is essential for gun-loving Coloradans and South Dakotans in their eternal war against … vermin.

During a Congressional hearing on gun violence, Rep. Buck used some of his time to zoom in from his kitchen and say that AR-15s were needed to stop raccoons “before they get to our chickens.” He wasn’t making a joke. This poorly written script, possibly jotted down with bloody hands by some whiskey-soaked gun lobbyist for Buck to read, was his excuse for how AR-15s—a gun that was manufactured with the military in mind—is a normal civilian firearm. Buck’s position, like most NRA stoolies’, is not shocking.

Buck is one of those perverse new Republican representatives that believe they should be allowed to strap on their garishly-painted guns and walk around Congress.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, after voting against funding to help Americans dealing with the then-new pandemic, Buck tweeted out a threat aimed at Democratic candidates (at the time) Joe Biden and Beto O’Rourke, where he gripped an AR-15 in his congressional office, like he was terrified there were raccoons running rip-shot through the hallways.

The AR-15 is called the “most popular rifle sold in America" by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and they should know as they make all of their money promoting guns.

While proponents of the gun will offer up that the relatively small size of the . 223 used by the AR-15 makes it a great varmint control gun— the problem is, it’s also a damaging, easy-to-use, and easy-to-get weapon for hunting people.

[dailykos.com]