Washington Post editor flamed for claiming the AR-15 rifle was ‘invented for’ the Nazis

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Piling on the gun control debate being waged in the wake of the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Washington Post senior editor Marc Fisher asserted on Twitter Thursday that the AR-15 rifle is a descendant of Nazi weaponry. 

It seemed his point was to attach even more menace to the weapon liberals fear and want regulated. However, Twitter users were not buying Fisher’s post.

Fisher tweeted an article he wrote in 2018 about the AR-15 rifle while saying, "Invented for Nazi infantrymen, further developed by the US military, the AR-15 was the Texas school shooter’s weapon of choice…."

Quite a few prominent Twitter users called Fisher out for the fake news. 

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Commentary Magazine editor Noah Rothman swiftly criticized Fisher’s tweet, going after the central claim that the AR-15 is a spiritual successor to Nazi guns. 

Rothman provided a screenshot of a quote from Fisher's article that said, "The AR-15… is a descendant of the machine guns Nazi infantrymen used against Soviet forces in World War II" and wrote, "[citation need]", accusing the piece of being insufficiently sourced.

Rothman then added to his thread, asking, "Are we saying the Nazis invented the machine gun?"

Former NRA spokesperson and current conservative radio host Dana Loesch tweeted, "When you’re a senior editor and you can’t even do the most basic research on your topic this is the idiotic dribble you publish. This is an embarrassment of pretend journalism."

"WTF is this?" tweeted The Glenn Beck Program writer Jason Buttrill. He then corrected Fisher, writing, "ArmaLite didn't come around until the mid 1950's. ‘Invented for Nazi infantrymen’... Bwahahahaha."

Washington Post senior editor Marc Fisher tweeted misinformation about link between Nazis and the AR-15.

Daily Wire associate editor Virginia Kruta provided some history, tweeting, "World War II ended in 1945, and the ArmaLite Rifle (AR) was not a thing until nearly a decade later. So tell me, was it the Nazis or ArmaLite who invented time travel?"

"I beg the media… don’t let anyone write about guns unless they actually own one and know something about them. Please," journalist Ryan James Girdusky tweeted.

"Washington Post senior editor just throwing ‘Nazi’ into this with no justification. The AR-15 inventor was from Indiana...," wrote Daily Signal author Jarrett Stepman.

AR-15 rifles are displayed for sale at the Guntoberfest gun show in Oaks, Pa. (Reuters/Joshua Roberts)

Conservative commentator Ian Miles Cheong tweeted, "An amazing reach by the Washington Post, to call every assault rifle a weapon ‘invented for Nazi infantrymen.’"

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Tablet's Noam Blum put Fisher’s tweet into perspective, writing, "This connection is akin to calling the moon landing a Nazi legacy."

"This is a straight up lie from a major publication," tweeted National Review contributor Andrew Follet. 

Harris County constable deputies training with AR-15 rifles, a weapon linked to Nazis by Washington Post senior editor Marc Fisher. (Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4)

The Federalist senior editor David Harsanyi tweeted, "Hey @mffisher, can you send your readers a citation to back-up your claim that the AR15 ‘is a descendant of the machine guns Nazi infantrymen used against Soviet forces in World War II?’"

And Newsweek opinion editor Josh Hammer called the tweet, "Literal, egregious misinformation from the ‘democracy dies in darkness’ crowd."

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