A Vox graphic showing how the popular AR-15 rifle can be outfitted with a 37mm attachment failed to mention that using the add-on for antipersonnel purposes is illegal, and that grenades are outlawed for purchase or sale to the general public.
The so-called “explainer” website relies on a graphic from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which refers to the 37mm attachment as a “grenade launcher.”
Though it is legal for a civilian to buy or sell the attachment for the purpose of discharging a “signaling device,” such as a flare, it is illegal for use as an antipersonnel mechanism.
Also, the National Firearms Act also classifies grenades as “destructive devices,” which makes them illegal for sale except under the strictest of highly regulated circumstances.
The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has explained the reasoning behind allowing the sale of 37mm launchers for the purpose of discharging signaling devices. “ATF has previously held that devices designed for expelling tear gas or pyrotechnic signals are not weapons and are exempt from the destructive device definition,” it said.
But when it comes to “grenade launchers,” ATF ruled that “antipersonnel ammunition” is off limits to the general public. Anyone who buys, sells or manufactures such materials must “have the appropriate federal firearms license.”
In short, a person can’t simply walk into a gun store and legally purchase an AR-15, a 37mm attachment and a crate of grenades. None of this is mentioned in the Vox article or the graphic included in the story.
The report was published last week, but the graphic didn’t catch widespread attention until Monday morning when the website’s social media team uploaded it to Twitter. The tweet came with a headline that read, “The AR-15, the gun behind some of the worst mass shootings in America, explained.”
The article was published just days after a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., claimed the lives of 49 people.
The article has since been updated to correct an inaccuracy regarding the year in which the National Firearms Act was passed. The article has not yet been updated to explain that that grenades are highly regulated under the NFA, or that it’s illegal for a civilian to use a 37mm launcher for antipersonnel purposes.
The Vox article was published at around the same time that one of the website’s staffers called for the total confiscation of all firearms.
“This is not Dems’ sales pitch but I’m totally down with letting the [president] unilaterally ban people (hopefully everyone!) from buying guns,” Vox’s Dylan Matthews said last Thursday on social media.
