For some, the gun is a tool, a finely tuned machine that can cut down an animal or intruder, or pierce a distant target, with a single precise shot. For others, it is a toy, a sleek beast of black plastic and metal that delivers a gratifying blast of adrenaline. And for many, it is a symbol, the embodiment of core American values — freedom, might, self-reliance. When he takes his AR out of its case at a shooting range, he smiles like he just unwrapped a gift.
Because an AR, or a variant, was reportedly used in several mass shootings — including Aurora , Colorado; Newtown, Connecticut; San Bernardino ,California; Sutherland Springs , Texas; Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida, in which a total of people were killed — this civilian sibling of a military assault rifle is an exceptionally polarizing product of modern American industry.
It is the focus of multiple attempts at prohibition, which in turn has prompted people to run out and buy more. Gun merchants say some buyers are also driven by a fascination with a weapon used in notoriously heinous crimes. Fears of a ban have subsided under gun-friendly President Donald Trump, and so have sales; gun makers are in the midst of a year-long slump that has driven down prices for AR-style rifles. Those discounts appear to have driven a record number of Black Friday gun background checks.
The gun, revolutionary for its light weight, easy care and adaptability with additional components, entered the mainstream in the mids, after Colt bought the patent and developed an automatic-fire version for troops in Vietnam, called the M That transformed a specific brand to a more generic offering on which a mini-industry would flourish.
When the AR and other semiautomatic rifles began to turn up in shootings, a movement began to restrict their manufacture and sale. Much of the outrage stemmed from the militaristic appearance of those guns, and their ability to fire rapidly. But there was also a more visceral reason, involving flesh and blood. ARs 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, 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. Manufacturers continued making versions of the AR that complied with the new law, which was allowed to expire in That set the stage for an explosion in AR sales. Anti-terror police forces began patrolling cities and transportation hubs, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were covered intimately.
That higher visibility seemingly fed a desire among gun owners to get what the troops and cops were using. With encouragement from the gun industry, the AR grew popular not only among people who enjoyed owning the latest tactical gear, but also among recreational and competitive target shooters, and hunters. Many saw it as a pinnacle of firearms engineering — ergonomic, accurate, reliable. Production of AR-style guns has soared since the federal ban expired. In , , were made. In , the number was 1.
The organization does not provide sales data, nor does it have production estimates, but says that year's activity likely broke all records. Today, one of out of every five firearms purchased in this country is an AR-style rifle , according to a NSSF estimate.
Americans now own an estimated 15 million ARs , gun groups say. Nonetheless, according to CNN , the AR is now perhaps the most popular single model of rifle in the country. And the overall number of assault-style weapons in the United States is not just an academic matter: the constitutionality of gun bans rests on their historic popularity.
In , the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Attorneys for the state noted that such guns comprise only 3 percent of the total civilian arsenal of approximately million firearms, citing a Congressional Research Service report.
Unsurprisingly, conservative judges have disagreed. Years before his nomination to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh argued in a dissent to a case brought before the D. Court of Appeals that longstanding bans on machine guns only apply to fully automatic weapons never widely used by civilians.
Assessing these bans based on their brief history, however, obscures a key fact: When legislatures first restricted the guns, few civilians owned them. Americans only started buying assault weapons in large numbers after the federal assault weapon ban expired in That year, there were only about , made by American manufacturers. Production skyrocketed after Barack Obama won the election, when domestic gunmakers manufactured almost , such weapons, and then again following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
In , the gun industry pumped out nearly two million assault-style rifles. But civilian ownership of assault weapons is also a recent phenomenon. Vote on the next question we should answer at Ask The Trace. Alex Yablon was a reporter at The Trace. Investigating gun violence in America. But along with that rise in popularity, the use of these weapons in mass shootings is also climbing, according to Louis Klarevas, a research professor at Teachers College, Columbia University who specializes in gun violence and safety.
From Sandy Hook to San Bernardino to Orlando to Las Vegas , "most of the deadly high-profile mass shootings in the past decade were perpetrated with assault weapons, particularly ARstyle assault rifles," Klarevas said. Sometimes referred to as "assault weapons" or "military-style rifles," this class of firearm can encompass many different kinds of guns -- not just the more well-known rifles, such as the AK and AR series weapons.
Along with their use in hunting, for some Americans, ARtype weapons also connote patriotism, which can be traced back to the M16 military rifle that became prominent during the Vietnam War, according to Garrett. But in , an AK was used to kill five children at a Stockton, California, elementary school, leading California to become the first state to enact an assault weapons ban, Klarevas said.
That was followed by two other high-profile mass shootings with semiautomatic pistols -- one in San Francisco and one on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train -- in Those shootings were the impetus for the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, signed into effect by President Bill Clinton in , stopping the manufacture, sale, transfer and possession of these types of firearms.
The federal law led to a decrease in gun massacre incidents where six or more victims are killed, Klarevas wrote in a report he issued last year as an expert witness in a federal court case challenging California's ban on assault weapons. When compared to data from to , the U. The federal ban was not renewed by Congress and expired in While there's no federal assault weapons ban now, Washington, D. In many rural and suburban areas, fully and semi-automatic rifles hold a practical value, such as for defending property, and a familial value, to pass down weapons to future generations, Garrett said.
ARtype rifles are also beloved as sporting rifles because they are accurate, versatile, light and easy to disassemble, Garrett said. They're also simple to shoot -- Garrett said anyone could be trained in a few hours. It can fit my frame," Oliva said, and with adjustments, "It can also fit my wife, and she can shoot that rifle just as easily. Oliva stressed that ARstyle rifles are semi-automatic -- and the automatic rifle he used in Iraq and Afghanistan "is not the same rifle that I have in my gun safe today.
The rifle he carried in war was automatic and could fire three rounds without any other action, Oliva said, while the gun in his safe is semi-automatic and requires pulling the trigger every time you want to fire.
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