Washington Post on an AR-15 rant today

[DaleA]

Comments to the Washington Post AR-15 articles are claiming the WP published three or four AR-15 articles. I ran across two.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/th...40008ad69&ei=6

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/we...ei=15#comments

I know, it's the Washington Post, but it's still irritating to see them publishing their nonsense trying to demonize the AR-15 without knowing much about the gun or guns in general.

Here's some--- bolded emphasis is mine...not the fault of the WP. (As a hopeful sign I'd say over 90% of the comments to the articles are pro-gun and berate the WP for their sensationalizm.):

Designed around the Pentagon’s desire for a lightweight weapon to match Soviet rifles such as the AK-47, the AR-15 fired small bullets at very fast speeds. The higher velocity meant the tiny projectiles became unstable when they penetrated a human body, tumbling through flesh to create devastating wounds. But the real innovation was the addition of a small tube to redirect the gas from fired cartridges. This dampened recoil, making it easier to keep steady aim on a target.

The industry’s biggest trade shows banished the AR-15 to the back. The National Rifle Association and other industry allies were focused on promoting traditional rifles and handguns. Most gun owners also shunned the AR-15, dismissing it as a “black rifle” that broke from the typical wood-stocked long guns that were popular at the time.
“We’d have NRA members walk by our booth and give us the finger,” said Randy Luth, the founder of gunmaker DPMS, one of the earliest companies to market AR-15s.

Michael Fifer, the gunmaker’s CEO at the time, described to financial analysts in 2009 how Ruger brought in roughly $200 from each handgun — but each AR-15-style rifle brought in $1,000.

Father and son took the AR-15 to a gun range. Shanley couldn’t believe how loud it was, even with ear protection, the sound crashing off the range overhang.

With Newtown, the weapon so meticulously marketed as a “sporting rifle” had been used as a killing machine that destroyed the bodies of young victims.

The gun’s brutal efficiency: The AR-15’s mechanics, which allow shooters to easily fire bullets at a high velocity in rapid succession, make the weapon lethal and destructive. When the bullets penetrate the body, they create a blast effect that blows up organs and pulverizes bones. The weapon’s power magnifies the impact of gun violence, both because of the number of victims and, for survivors, the long-lasting effects on physical and mental health. In Sutherland Springs, Tex., where more than two dozen people were killed during an eight-minute rampage in 2017, the additional 20 people injured continue to grapple with debilitating, lifelong conditions such as paralysis or infertility.

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Saw three different articles, the first was what you quoted from.

In the sections that "discussed" why the AR became so popular, they focused exclusively on the "gun industry's decision to agressively market the rifle (to maximize profits, of course) and ignored what I think are rather important factors, and only looking back as far as 2005 regarding that.

Two of the big things they ignored, and "overlooked" mentioning at all are the US Govt's push to ban them. (Forbidden fruit is always attractive) and also the simple fact that the M16 in some variant has been the standard service rifle since the early 1960s.

HOW MANY people has the GOVT trained to use the M16 in the past 60 years??? From Viet Nam through the "war on terror" and currently to this day, just about everyone in uniform, ALL BRANCHES gets at least a basic familiarity with the M16 series rifle.

Just as bolt actions "exploded" in popularity as hunting rifles after WWI, and semi autos became more popular after WWII and on up to today, people trained on a service rifle often choose a similar rifle for their own.

add on top of that the number of young people "trained" by shooter video games, not the US Govt, and you get a lot of people who want an AR type rifle because they have some familiarity with one, either in the real or the virtual world.

One of the articles did include a survey they did last fall, and I will give them credit for a degree of honesty listing the answers to the survey question, "why did you buy an AR 15?:

They gave all the usual answers and percentages of people giving each, there was one answer a small percentage of people gave that made me smile...

"why did you buy an AR 15?"
"Because it pisses liberals off!"

[ghbucky]

Kyle Rittenhouse is my MSR salesman.

I never owned a rifle before he demonstrated the usefulness of one to me.

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My 14th birthday present was a Winchester rifle.