MSBNC host Joe Scarborough voiced support for the Second Amendment on Sunday, but stressed it does not protect “weapons of war,” by which he meant AR-15s.

In a series of tweets Scarborough suggested the AR-15, a civilian rifle, is deadlier than the M-16, a military rifle.

The AR-15 is semiautomatic, which means it fires one round each time the trigger is pulled. The M-16 has a fire selector switch which allows the rifle to be switched between semiautomatic and automatic fire. In automatic fire mode the M-16 will fire as many rounds as are in the magazine with a single pull of the trigger.

Yet Scarborough suggests the AR-15 is deadlier than the M-16 and described it as “weapon of war.”

Scarborough tweeted that the AR-15 “was far deadlier than the M-16 used in Vietnam.”

Having painted the AR-15 as a “weapon of war,” Scarborough then tweeted that the Second Amendment does not protect such weapons:

As a longtime gun owner and supporter of the Second Amendment, I agreed with the Supreme Court’s "Heller" holding that concluded Americans had the right to keep and bear arms. But that constitutional protection did not, and will not, extend to guns designed as weapons of war. — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 18, 2019

Scarborough’s firearm observations come just hours after Democrat presidential hopeful Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke contended that sales of AR-15s ought to be banned in America.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.