From “The Star Spangled Banner” to the hamburger, the United States has a number of official national symbols.
An Alabama congressman’s bill would add another: a national gun.
Rep. Barry Moore visited a Troy gun shop on Tuesday to unveil legislation making the AR-15 the “National Gun of America.”
“The anti-Second Amendment group won’t stop until they take away all your firearms,” the Republican congressman said in a statement after announcing the legislation at Family Firearms in Troy. “One rule to remember: any government that would take away one right would take away them all.”
“The Second Amendment is as American a right as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. Second Amendment rights are worth protecting and must not be infringed, and we must send a message that we will meet every attack on any of our constitutional rights,” Moore continued.
The House has not been given the full text of the bill, according to congressional records, but the legislation would “declare an AR-15 style rifle chambered in a .223 Remington round or a 5.56x45mm NATO round to be the National Gun of the United States.”
Sonny Parker, owner of Family Firearms, thanked Moore for his Second Amendment stance and the bill.
“Every day we are battling those in Washington trying to take away our Second Amendment rights,” Parker said in a statement. “We’re extremely thankful for men like Congressman Barry Moore who are willing to go to war for us, stand up for our Second Amendment rights and battle those who continue to take those away from us.”