Posted on 11/06/2017 1:29:53 PM PST by Red Badger
The 26-year-old man who walked into a Sutherland Springs church and opened fire did so with a variant of the AR-15, a popular rifle that is based on the militarys M-16, police said Sunday.
The rifle used by Devin Kelley was the Ruger AR-556, Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Freeman Martin said in a news conference.
The AR-15 is more of a category than a specific weapon. It is known for being customizable, with hundreds of variants, each with its own characteristics. Rugers AR-15 variant, the AR-556, comes with a suggested retail price of $849 and weighs 6.5 pounds.
Colt owns the trademark for the AR-15, but hundreds of companies have produced their own versions of the weapon. Gun owners are able to mix and match elements such as barrels, grips and stocks. Some variants are able to fire pistol rounds and even can be modified to fire shotgun rounds.
The AR-15, like its military cousin the M-16, is a magazine-fed, gas-operated, air-cooled weapon. While the maximum range of an AR-15 variant depends on its setup, the M-16 has a maximum effective range of 600 to 800 yards.
Unlike the M-16, the stock AR-15 does not have burst or automatic fire modes. One trigger pull in an unmodified rifle fires off one round. Some modifications or firing techniques can allow the weapon to mimic an automatic rifle.
Mass murderers have used AR-15 variants in the past. Rifles based on the AR-15 were used in mass shootings in Newtown, Connecticut; Aurora, Colorado; and San Bernardino, California. The Orlando shooter used a Sig Sauer MCX, which is a weapon with different characteristics but based on similar concepts to the AR-15.
The rifles appeal is boosted by its customization, according to the National Rifle association website. The AR-15s ability to be modified to your own personal taste is one of the things that makes it so unique, a post on the site reads.
Sales of the gun traditionally have spiked after each mass shooting.
It is unknown how many AR-15 variants are owned in the United States, but estimates range from 5 million to 8 million. The weapon did not reach its current levels of popularity until the expiration of the nations federal assault weapons ban in 2004.
Groups such as the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation have attacked critics of AR-15 variants in the past. While these rifles may cosmetically look like military rifles, they do not function the same way, a post on the National Shooting Sports Foundation site reads.
A database of 143 mass shootings compiled by Mother Jones, going back to 1984, found 20 attacks that used guns that would have been illegal under the assault weapons ban that was in place from its passage in 1994 to its expiration. The AR-15 was specifically named in that ban.
A history of the AR-15 by the Washington Post noted the weapon is typically loaded with a 30-round magazine. However, larger magazines carrying 75 to 100 rounds are commercially available, but unwieldy and sometimes prone to jamming.
The AR in the name does not stand for assault rifle or automatic rifle. Instead it, stands for ArmaLite rifle, named for the company that developed the weapon.
Sounds like you two need to go fishin’
If modified with a bump stock, it would be fully automatic.
Its not the specific characteristics of a weapon we need to be concerned about, the values of the user.
That always gets left out in the debate over how to respond to mass shooting incidents.
Colt purchased the rights.
That was my point.
If modified with a bump stock, it would be fully automatic.
Not really. Not even the ATF accepts that to be true.
Armalite was a division of Fairchild Aircraft and developed the AR-10 & AR-15 to utilize adanced aluminous alloys used by the aircraft industry.
From Wiki:
“Tired of repeated failures in the market, Fairchild licensed the AR-10 and AR-15 designs to Colt, and the AR-10 to a Dutch company. They sold their interest in Armalite in 1962. That year, Colt sold the AR-15 to the United States Air Force to arm base security troops.”
I was Walmart shortly after they stopped selling AR style rifles. (As an aside, I bought a Colt LE 6920 at Walmart for $1069 during the gun shortage when they were selling for $2500 on the auction sites.) Right there in the display case was a Ruger Mini 14. I actually laughed out loud. I will admit the Mini 14 had a wood stock and not that scary black stuff like the ARs had.
Even funnier, you can get scary black plastic stocks for Rugers.
You’d expect some of the shootings with a rifle to be with an “AR variant” since it’s the more popular of the two main types of ‘ordinary rifle’.
Lemmee guess. The attacks would have been legal. Just the weapon would have been illegal?
BTW, 600,000 Americans were killed with muzzleloaders during the civil war. Anyone determined to take a life will use whatever he has at his disposal. After all, abortion docs kill over a million Americans every year, and they don't even use a gun. Maybe we should outlaw abortion.
...Why does it say that Colt owns the trademark when Armalite is the company that created the rifle?...
Armalite sold the rights to the AR15 shortly after it’s development.
Ah, so, ah, when are we going to hear about the gun that saved people?
Yeah!
The prices vary wildly based on quality and features. I have a $550 S&W Sport. Reliable and accurate and a good buy, but higher priced weapons are well worth the money if purchasing for use beyond basic TEOTWAWKI stockpiling.
Look online.
Commonly found under $600, often much less.
Check places like Buds or Kentucky Guns.
Hot deals coming up around the holidays too.
I originally heard that it was a shotgun.
“If modified with a bump stock, it would be fully automatic.”
Nope. Bumpfire stocked guns are STILL semi-auto. One trigger pull, one bang. I would call them single-shots to annoy the Leftist Monolithic Media.
The thought occurred to me that someone could have put the thought of a “gun” massacre in this guy’s head . . .with promises of who knows what.
I wouldn’t hold my breath.................
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