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Here's how the polarizing M16 or AR-15 rifle went from a symbol of America's lost war in Vietnam to being owned by about 16 million Americans in 70 years (barf alert)
Business Insider ^ | 1 apr 2023 | James Pasley

Posted on 04/01/2023 9:16:08 AM PDT by rellimpank

The M16 or AR-15 rifle is one of the US's most divisive symbols To gun enthusiasts, it is an effective, lightweight weapon. To anti-gun advocates, it's a symbol of mass shootings. Experts estimate approximately 16 million adults in the US now own at least one of these rifles.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 40million; ar15; banglist; guns; rkba
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---this is about as ridiculous an article as I have seen, starting with the lead pic, claiming that an M-2 carbine is an "M-16"-
1 posted on 04/01/2023 9:16:08 AM PDT by rellimpank
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To: rellimpank
When will people figure out that it's the "design" that drives their little minds.

We should be buying muskets??

2 posted on 04/01/2023 9:18:23 AM PDT by Sacajaweau ( )
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To: rellimpank

The very first picture is all wrong.

Doesn’t the media even try to get the story correct anymore?

An M2 carbine doesn’t look anything like an M16. Not even close.

Idiots.


3 posted on 04/01/2023 9:20:50 AM PDT by packagingguy
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To: rellimpank

The same type of creeps who supported the Communist conquest of VietNam are the pinkos who want to disarm Americans today.

Kind of speaks for itself.


4 posted on 04/01/2023 9:22:18 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: rellimpank

BI=BS.


5 posted on 04/01/2023 9:23:22 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: rellimpank

Stopped reading at the first picture description.


6 posted on 04/01/2023 9:23:38 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (I went to bed on November 3rd 2020 and woke up in 1984.)
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To: rellimpank

Nobody needs a military-style rifle with a 20 or 30 round ammo capacity. That is, until they come to disarm you. Or send their ANTIFA or BLM minions to attack you.


7 posted on 04/01/2023 9:26:40 AM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Militia to the border! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: rellimpank

Well, the thousand round magazine probably confused them.


9 posted on 04/01/2023 9:28:22 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this? 😕)
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To: JimRed

“Or send their ANTIFA or BLM minions to attack you.”


Of course you’ll be arrested for a felony for even displaying the AR-15 to the BLM/Antifa crowd if you’re in St. Louis.


10 posted on 04/01/2023 9:30:25 AM PDT by hanamizu
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To: rellimpank

I had an AR-15 in basic, it was really worn and had the old 3-prong flash suppressor that would grab plant life.


11 posted on 04/01/2023 9:36:09 AM PDT by ansel12 (NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.)
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To: JimRed

Saw a video of a cop having to shoot a dude swinging a knife at close range at the cop- Shot him 11 times, and the dude kept charging the cop- then walked off down the street- The government doesn’t get to tell us how many rounds we need when perps are repeatedly shot many times and do not fall right away- And let’s also consider than many house break-ins are done by groups of thugs/criminals-

Saw a home camera video of 3 thugs that broke in through front door- then you see the thug, armed- go into the bedroom, and shots ring out- and perp comes running out and out hte front door- all 3 were armed- and had the homeowner had to retrieve his gun from a locked cabinet, and had to unlock the trigger lock, then unlock a separate cabinet with ammo inside, like soem states demand gun owners store their guns— the perps woudl have 100% shot and killed him and his wife before he could have loaded his gun for self defense!

Thankfully the homeowner had his pistol near him, loaded, ready to defend himself and his wife-


12 posted on 04/01/2023 9:38:13 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: BenLurkin

13 posted on 04/01/2023 9:59:38 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: rellimpank

“The M16 or AR-15 rifle is one of the US’s most divisive symbols To gun enthusiasts...”

_________________________________________________

No it isn’t.


14 posted on 04/01/2023 10:01:35 AM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
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To: rellimpank

It’s April Fools Day every day, for some people.


15 posted on 04/01/2023 10:02:24 AM PDT by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: Bishop_Malachi

Never seen a good AR vs. AK dust-up?


16 posted on 04/01/2023 10:04:49 AM PDT by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: rellimpank

***Things began to change in 1989 after a mass shooting at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California. A lone gunman shot 34 people, killing 5 children, before killing himself. In response, Colt stopped selling AR-15s for a whole year.***

SAY WHAT? I remember that very well. California had written up a very bad AW ban which would have also banned lever action rifles. So much opposition was brought against it the lever action ban was removed and the law shelved.

I said LOOK OUT There is going to be a mass shooting in California in a few weeks or months! And there was.

The State had released Pat Purdy from a mental institution (for the seventh time), allowed him to buy a handgun passing the waiting period and lying on the forms 4473. He also bought, not an AR-15 but an AK-47s.

He then shot up the school killing several students and himself.

The shelved AW ban bill was pulled out and passed so fast before opposition could be mounted against it.

To show how bad the AK-47 was, CBS had a watermelon set up and shot it with the AK. All it did was punch holes in it.

So they set up another melon, and shot it with a different weapon with special ammo to make the melon explode.

That night on the news you saw a man shoot an AK, then cut to the watermelon exploding. All to make it look like these weapons were super bad!


17 posted on 04/01/2023 10:07:03 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”)
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To: rellimpank

18 posted on 04/01/2023 10:08:13 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: packagingguy

Well to be fair there was an m16 lying in the bed of the vehicle lolol but hardly fitting the caption “Reporter Betsy Halstead learns how to fire an M16 automatic rifle during the Vietnam War in 1965”.


19 posted on 04/01/2023 10:11:04 AM PDT by redcatcherb412
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To: packagingguy
They got this right:

According to CJ Chivers, when a discussion turns to AR-15s, it stops being rational.

20 posted on 04/01/2023 10:12:05 AM PDT by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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