Economist Ben Stein on Wednesday said banning the AR-15 would be "a damn good idea," and called the weapon used by the mass shooter last week in Florida to kill 17 people, an "extremely seductive weapon" that makes "a person who's a big nerd be able to go into a gun shop, buy it, come out feeling like he's a Rambo," according to a report in Mediaite.
The AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle that has been used by a number of gunmen to slaughter people in Newtown, San Bernardino and Las Vegas. Nikolas Cruz, 19, purchased his legally but then used it to gun down students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
"There's no reason to have it," Stein said during an interview with Fox News' Neil Cavuto.
Stein previously said stricter gun laws wouldn't cut shootings, and that "gun control, or being angry at the NRA simply does not get us very far."
On Wednesday, he wrote an article in the American Spectator saying the time for civilians to own AR-15's is over.
"I understand why people want them," he wrote. "It makes your ordinary nerdy guy seem like he's tough and rough and ready. It makes him feel as if he's got some part of him that's always steely and ready for action. But that's not enough reason to own a gun that just begs to be used against people."