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Originally Posted by Carter08
Ok that’s a good start. There seems to be a gun of choice for these whackos - the AR. Can we get rid of that or restrict purchases? If it already is restricted let me know.
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Some states heavily restrict or ban AR-15's and others do not. It is not federally prohibited because it is not really any different from any other semi-automatic rifle. The AR-15 that is sold to civilians have 16-20 inch barrels, and are magazine fed semi-automatic rifles like all other semi-automatic rifles. The standard chambering is for 5.56x45mm, a light cartridge with a shorter range and less penetration than most rounds fired from rifles. The AR-15 has been the standard American rifle since the late 1970's (for the military since the early 1960's, their version is an actual assault rifle though and is a little different from the civilian legal versions).
The AR-15 constitutes the majority of rifles sold in the United States. Because it has been a standard for so long, the design has been made by tons of manufacturers and perfected mechanically over the decades (there are designs I like better, but they work well), and parts and supplies for it are everywhere making it the general go-to for new buyers. It's like the Honda Civic of rifles.
Rifles though, of any type, are rarely used in murders. The vast majority of gun murders are committed with a pistol. Until recently and probably-still-today-but-I-have-not-seen-fresh-data-in-a-few-years, .22lr is used more than any other cartridge, because it is the cheapest and everywhere even though it is, ballistically, less lethal than pretty much every other commonly used round. According to the FBI, bludgeoning murders outpace rifle murders (and stabbing murders are far and away more common). Considering that there's an AR-15 in a huge percentage of households in the US, it is one of the least used murder tools relative to its abundance.