Slate is having a hard time deciding whether that jackass in Missouri was carrying an AR-style rifle or a Kalashnikov — the headline says one thing, the story says another. Exhibit No. 3,454,992 in the case that the people in the media who write about firearms don’t know anything about them.
Also, a question for those who know such things: The stories say he was wearing body armor. But that isn’t obvious from the pictures. He’s wearing a vest with a bunch of pockets and webbing and such — full on Circle-K commando gear — but I can’t tell whether he’s actually wearing body armor. (Body armor doesn’t come up very often if you’re hunting quail, unless you’re hunting with Dick Cheney.) Anybody know for sure?
Beyond that . . .
In Texas, we have the somewhat ironically named 30-06 law, which is a subset of trespassing law that allows places such as Walmart (or any other privately owned place) to forbid the carry of firearms on their premises if they choose. That seems to me the right way to play things. But the people of Missouri have their own legislature, and their own priorities.