Yes, a GOP bill would make the AR-15 the “national weapon.”

Claim:

In February 2023, US Representative Barry Moore, a Republican from Alabama, introduced legislation that would make the AR-15 assault rifle the “national weapon of the United States.”

Evaluation:

context

As of this writing, two of Moore’s colleagues — Rep. Lauren Boebert and George Santos — support the proposal, which hasn’t even been discussed or voted on at committee level. Even if the law were to pass the House of Representatives, it likely would not pass the Democrat-led Senate or be signed by US President Joe Biden, also a Democrat.

A Republican congressman from Alabama want to be designated the “National Weapon of the United States” and the AR-15 assault rifle was his weapon of choice. Introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 17, 2023, his bill has sparked outrage over its stated goals as well as its sponsors, which include controversial lawmakers like Rep. Lauren Boebert and Rep. George Santos.

On February 21, 2023, Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama Visited Family Firearms, a gun shop in Troy, Alabama, to unveil legislation it sponsored.

in one opinion Moore said he protects Americans’ Second Amendment rights, the right to bear arms, against people who want to take their guns away from them. He called it a right “as important as freedom of speech, religion and the press”.

house records show a full text of the invoice is not yet available. The text currently reads:

As of 02/24/2023, no text has been received for HR1095 – to declare an AR-15 rifle chambered for .223 Remington or 5.56x45mm NATO round the national weapon of the United States.

Bills are usually sent to the Library of Congress by the GPO, the Government Publishing Office, a day or two after they are submitted to the House or Senate. Delays can occur when a large number of invoices need to be prepared or when a very large invoice needs to be printed.

The bill was merely introduced into the House of Representatives and referred to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. Nothing of its contents has been read or heard. Currently the Congress website conditions: “A legal expert from the Congressional Research Service will begin analyzing this legislation as soon as the text is available.” It’s a long way at this point REMOVED becoming law, although we’ll update this post if anything changes.

The three co-sponsors the bill also raised eyebrows. Among them is Boebert, a Republican lawmaker who owned a gun-themed restaurant. Santos was investigated multiple times during his campaign for lying about his life and career and is being investigated by federal and New York prosecutors. So was he allegedly wore an AR-15 pin during his time in Washington, DC

Political opponents, including supporters of stricter gun regulations, have opposed the idea, calling it an inappropriate celebration of a deadly weapon used in mass shootings. dozens of mass shootings have occurred in the US in just the first two months of 2023, most recently in Memphis, Tennessee, where 10 were injured by gunfire and one was killed. In January 2023At a Target store in Nebraska, a man began shooting with an AR-15 style rifle and was fatally shot by police. No other injuries were reported in this incident.

But what does it mean to call something “national”? The National floral emblem the USA for example is a rose and the national bird is a bald eagle. These objects are largely symbolic in nature, used on logos, coins, flags and more, and intended to demonstrate the identity of a country or entity. There is currently no national gun in the US, but the legislature does Performance to adopt a national symbol as they did with the rose.

Because the bill has gone before the House of Representatives, although we don’t yet know all the details, we rate the general claim as “true.”

Sources