Senior editor for Washington Post claims AR-15s were ‘invented for Nazi infantrymen’

Senior editor of The Washington Post Marc Fisher Tweeted that the AR-15 descended from the Nazi party.

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.”

Several known figures called out Fisher for what they said was an inaccurate tweet. 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.”

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.

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

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. 

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?’”

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