The AR-15 rifle, billed as “America’s rifle” by the National Rifle Association, has been commonly used by mass shooters and is one of the most ubiquitous weapons in the United States.
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AR-15-style rifles are frequently customized with easy-to-purchase scopes and other accessories that can make even an untrained shooter lethal.
An AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle was recovered by law enforcement at the scene of the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump at his rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday.
The AR-15 rifle, billed as “America’s rifle” by the National Rifle Association, has been commonly used by mass shooters and is one of the most ubiquitous weapons in the United States.
AR-15-style rifles are frequently customized with easy-to-purchase scopes and other accessories that can make even an untrained shooter lethal.
The rifle can be built to fire heavier and lighter rounds, such as .22-caliber and .308-caliber, but most commonly fires a 5.56-millimeter round, and has an effective range of between 500 and 800 yards.
In the hands of a trained shooter, accuracy at that range is difficult but possible, especially if the rifle is supported by bipods or sandbags that can stabilize the sway of its barrel.
In 2004, the AR-15 re-entered the gun market after the end of the federal assault weapons ban, and was popularized by the rise of a video game culture that made shooting an accessible form of entertainment. The rifle was marketed as accessible and easy to personalize.
Light, precise and with little recoil, the Colt Armalite Rifle-15 Sporter was the first civilian version of the military’s M16 rifle when it first hit the market in the 1960s. It had a patented gas operating system that allowed for rapid fire and reloading. The weapon could easily handle a 20-round magazine, was easy to disassemble and was marketed, in one of Colt’s early advertisements, to hunters, campers and collectors.
The sale and possession of AR-15-type rifles, and other military-style semiautomatic weapons, is banned in nine states: Washington, California, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois and Delaware.
Thomas Gibbons-Neff is a Ukraine correspondent and a former Marine infantryman. More about Thomas Gibbons-Neff
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Source: nytimes.com
