Sometimes a teachable moment comes along. We noticed a tweet on someone’s page from Shannon Watts who is the director of Mom’s Demand Action For Gun Sense In America. It showed a rifle, a black one, and said, “You can buy this at @SportsmansWH if you’re 18.” We went to Mrs. Watts twitter feed and sure enough the photo below was there with the tweet.
We should take a minute to understand what “THIS” is exactly. Sure it is a black rifle, but what it is really? Look closely and you will notice it is a BOLT ACTION. For those who may not be familiar with rifles, in order to load a cartridge you pull back the bolt and when the bolt is closed a cartridge is removed from the magazine and placed in the chamber. After firing the bolt can be cycled to eject the spent casing and load another cartridge. We really need to peel the onion one step further in this case. In addition to being a bolt action this is also a .22LR. Mrs. Watts would have known this if she had simply typed Ruger 8400 into a Google search and then viewed the results.
We’ve been told all our lives to not judge a book by its cover. Just because a firearm is black and appears tactical it is not an assault weapon. Perhaps Mrs. Watts should work on her “Gun Sense.”