AR-15 at mass shootings

[struggle4progress]

William Cummings and Bart Jansen
Published 6:19 AM ET Thu, 15 Feb 2018

... Dec. 2, 2015: Syed Rizwyan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, 28 and 27, used two AR-15-style, .223-caliber Remington rifles and two 9 mm handguns to kill 14 and injure 21 at his workplace in San Bernardino, Calif., before they were killed.

June 12, 2016: Omar Mateen, 29, used an AR-15 style rifle (a Sig Sauer MCX), and a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol to kill 49 people and injure 50 at an Orlando nightclub before he was killed.

Oct. 1, 2017: Stephen Paddock, 64, used a stockpile of guns including an AR-15 to kill 58 people and injure hundreds at a music festival in Las Vegas before he killed himself.

Nov. 5, 2017: Devin Kelley, 26, used an AR-15 style Ruger rifle to kill 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, before he was killed.

Feb. 14, 2018: Police say Nikolas Cruz, 19, used an AR-15-style rifle to kill at least 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/why-the-ar-15-keeps-appearing-at-americas-deadliest-mass-shootings.html

[struggle4progress]

1. AR-15: Mass Shooters' Weapon of Choice

By Tim Dickinson
November 21, 2016

... "It's a perfect killing machine," says Dr. Peter Rhee, a leading trauma surgeon and retired captain with 24 years of active-duty service in the Navy ...

But the National Rifle Association now ... calls the AR-15 "America's Rifle" ...

Gun-makers call the civilian AR-15 a "modern sporting rifle," and insist that the restriction on automatic fire somehow neuters the weapon. The industry's trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), maintains that "AR-15-style rifles are NOT ‘assault weapons,'" adding that the guns "look like military rifles?.?.?.?but function like other semi-automatic civilian sporting firearms." This line of argument is hard to square with the Army's own Field Manual, which instructs soldiers that semi-automatic fire is the "most important firing technique during fast-moving, modern combat," adding, "It is surprising how devastatingly accurate rapid semi-automatic fire can be" ...

... Trump, helped to the White House .. by the NRA, is poised to overhaul the federal judiciary to the gun lobby's specifications ...

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/how-the-ar-15-became-mass-shooters-weapon-of-choice-w451452

[struggle4progress]

2. Why so many love the AR-15

FEB 15 2018, 8:08 AM ET
by JON SCHUPPE

... AR-15s inflict much more damage to human tissue than the typical handgun, which is used in most shootings. That's largely because of the speed at which projectiles leave the weapons; they are much faster out of the muzzle of an AR-15, or similar rifle, and deliver a more devastating blow to bones and organs. Those projectiles are also more likely to break apart as they pass through the body, inflicting more damage ...

... in 1994 .. Clinton signed a ban on the sale of many types of semiautomatic rifles deemed "assault weapons," including versions of the AR-15. Manufacturers continued making versions of the AR-15 that complied with the new law, which was allowed to expire in 2004. That set the stage for an explosion in AR-15 sales ...

Production of AR-style guns has soared since the federal ban expired. In 2004, 107,000 were made. In 2015, the number was 1.2 million, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), an industry trade association. The organization does not provide sales data, nor does it have 2016 production estimates, but says that year's activity likely broke all records ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/america-s-rifle-why-so-many-people-love-ar-15-n831171

[struggle4progress]

3. The AR-15

Marc Fisher
Washington Post

... On the civilian market, the AR-15 didn't sell terribly well for years, in part because of its connection with the Vietnam conflict, which was no one's idea of a model of American greatness. Many gun enthusiasts didn't like the AR-15 because it was so light; some dismissed it as feeling like a toy.

But the AR-15 found new life in 2004, when President George W. Bush scrapped the ban on assault weapons that had been enacted under President Bill Clinton in 1994.

And in 2005, Bush signed into law a measure protecting arms makers and dealers from liability for crimes committed with their products. The NRA called it "the most significant piece of pro-gun legislation in 20 years."

AR-15s flew off the shelves. Sales spiked again during the Obama administration, when the country suffered a flurry of mass shootings, which in turn led to calls by Democrats to reinstate the ban on assault weapons. Persistent campaigns by the NRA and many Republican supporters of gun rights spread the idea that President Barack Obama intended to ban and confiscate Americans' firearms, leading to a massive surge in sales. Obama never launched any such initiative ...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-ar15-rifle-mass-shootings-20180215-story.html