‘They Use Them to Shoot Prairie Dogs’: No. 2 Senate Republican Defends AR-15s

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) in Washington during a hearing on Dec. 10, 2020. Samuel Corum/Pool/Getty Images

The No. 2 Republican in the Senate defended people who want to own an AR-15-style rifle, claiming that the voters he represents use the guns to shoot varmints and prairie dogs.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) noted the gun, which has faced criticism after several high-profile mass shootings in recent weeks, is among the most popular in the United States. Some Democrat lawmakers and pundits have pushed for a full ban on the rifle, while others have said that there should be a federal age restriction on AR-15s.

“The challenge you have on that is there’s 20 million of them in the country already. They are a sporting rifle. And it’s something that a lot of people [use] for purposes of going out target shooting. In my state, they use them to shoot prairie dogs and, you know, other types of varmints,” Thune told CNN on Tuesday.

Across the United States, some farmers use AR-15s to kill invasive wild hogs, which, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, do billions of dollars in damage each year. Prairie dogs, which are common across the plains states, also can decimate crops and are considered a nuisance for ranchers and farmers.

Thune said that instead of banning AR-15-style rifles, they should be kept away from mentally ill individuals.

“I think that there are legitimate reasons why people would want to have them,“ the senator continued. ”So I just think that the issues that they should be focused on is how do you keep those types of weapons out of the hands of these young, in this case male, very deranged young men.”

Thune’s comment to CNN drew backlash from at least one Democrat lawmaker. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said that the weapon has been used in a number of mass shootings.

“Across the country, ’they use them to shoot‘ human beings in schools, grocery stores, hospitals, churches, synagogues, malls, bars, and workplaces. If you think shooting ’varmints’ is more important than preventing mass shootings of children at elementary schools, you’re wrong,” he wrote on Twitter.

Data shows that mass shootings make up a small fraction of all U.S. gun homicides each year. Meanwhile, handguns account for more than two-thirds of all firearms-related murders as of 2019.

Following mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, New York; and Tulsa, Oklahoma; several Republicans have reportedly met with Democrats to come to a bipartisan breakthrough. Last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters that he tapped Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to work with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) to create a new bill, including changes to the federal background check system.

In the 50–50 Senate, Democrats will need to obtain the votes of at least 10 Republican senators to overcome the chamber’s filibuster.