A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that across all political and social groups in the United States, there is a strong preference against living near AR-15 rifle owners and neighbors who store guns outside of locked safes. This surprising consensus suggests that when it comes to immediate living environments, Americans’ views on gun control may be less divided than the polarized national debate suggests.
The research was conducted against a backdrop of increasing gun violence and polarization on gun policy in the United States. The United States has over 350 million civilian firearms and gun-related incidents, including accidents and mass shootings, have become a leading cause of death in the country. Despite political divides, the new study aimed to explore whether there’s common ground among Americans in their immediate living environments, focusing on neighborhood preferences related to gun ownership and storage.
The AR in AR-15 stands for Armalite Rifle. Armalite being the company that initially designed and manufactured it, though basically everyone has had a go at making a variant of it. You won’t find the term “assault rifle” in significant use, at least not in English.
The AR-15 sold to the public cannot “spray.” They are semi-automatic. One pull of the trigger, one bullet out of the barrel. Fully auto or burst fire modes aren’t available to the general public; I believe a few made it into circulation but collectors tend to hang onto them. It’s not a bullet hose.
There are a lot of rifles out there that have walnut stocks and such that look like grampa’s huntin’ gun that are functionally similar to an AR-15, ie same ease of operation, same capacity, same (relatively small) caliber, same rate of fire. But you don’t seem to be afraid of those. So I can only assume you have a fear of black plastic. That’s the main unique feature of the AR-15 compared to other semi-automatic rifles on the market, the stock is made of plastic rather than wood.
Here’s the real truth: mass shootings in America are not caused by firearms engineering, and restricting features of firearms isn’t going to solve the problem. A shooting is carried out with an AR-15. People start talking about banning AR-15s. Remember Columbine? That was actually a failed bombing, most of the killings were done with a TEC-9…what would you categorize that as? An open bolt pistol? A “That’s not an Uzi?” and a shotgun. Well TEC-9s were banned. Sure stopped school shootings. Virginia Tech was done with pistols.
You want the problem solved? Work on reducing hopelessness in young men. People HATE that answer, because, well…people hate young men. But that’s the answer.