Claim: Americans need free access to AR-15 and other semi-automatic platform rifles that can take large-capacity magazines so that farmers and ranchers use them as “varmint rifles” for to control pests like prairie dogs, raccoons, coyotes, gophers, feral hogs, etc.
This claim is generally used as a distraction tactic by ammosexuals, providing them with an entry point into technical gun-wanking. This kind of pest control is sometimes conflated with sport hunting, even though those are very different activities. Arguments for controling the use of such weapons in these situations with mandatory industrial licenses and/or insurance are rejected on the basis of extremely shaky Second Amendment grounds. The general conclusion from people with actual experience on farms and ranches and target shooting seems to be that these weapons are not great pest control tools; more on that in this topic:
ETA: If pest control is an actual requirement, the solution is stringent industrial licensing.
