Editorial
The mass murder at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has something in common with America’s deadliest massacres – the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives defines a semiautomatic rifle as a weapon designed to be fired from the shoulder that “utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round,” and shoots a single bullet with each pull of the trigger.
The AR-15 was designed in the mid-1950s by the California-based small arms manufacturer ArmaLite. (“AR” stands for “ArmaLite Rifle,” not “assault rifle,” as is often assumed.) The original AR-15 had a “select fire” capability, giving users the option to shoot in semiautomatic mode; fully automatic mode, which continues firing until the trigger is released; or burst mode, which ejects three bullets per trigger pull.
It was intended for the U.S. military, which was in need of a lightweight rifle with expanded ammunition capacity. But after it failed to attract buyers, ArmaLite sold its AR-15 design to Colt, one of America’s oldest gunmakers. Colt made some design tweaks to the AR-15, and in 1963 it marketed the rifle (successfully) to the military as the M16. It developed a semiautomatic version of the AR-15 for the civilian market at around the same time.
Gun rights activists also say AR-15s are used for home self-defense. In 2017, a commentator with the now-defunct NRA-TV put it bluntly: “I personally think it is a mistake for people to say it’s used for hunting, or it’s used for target shooting. I have my AR-15 to kill people.”
Variations of the AR-15 were used in this month’s massacre at a Buffalo supermarket; at a Texas Walmart in 2019; a Florida high school in 2018; a Texas church and a Las Vegas concert in 2017; and Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
The AR-15 style weapon is the most popular rifle in America with well over 11 million. And they are rarely used in crime. But, the AR-15 is the weapon of choice of the worst mass murderers.
AR-15 ammunition travels up to three times the speed of sound. And as we first showed you in 2018, we’re going to slow that down – so you can see why the AR-15’s high-velocity ammo is the fear of every American emergency room.
Mass shootings were once so shocking they were impossible to forget. Now they’ve become so frequent it’s hard to remember them all. In October 2018, at a Pittsburgh synagogue, eleven were killed, and six wounded.
So, why is Tiffany Esposito an (R) candidate for Florida State House show herself with an AR-15? Since the NRA is supporting her does she also believe that AR-15 is to kill people?
The AR-15, like its military version, is designed to kill people quickly and in large numbers, hence the term assault-style rifle, gun control advocates told NPR in 2018. They say it has no valid recreational use, and civilians should not be allowed to own them.
So why is Tiffany Esposito holding an AR-15 and pointing it to fire?
She should apologize to every family and every school child in your district.
Supporting the second amendment to bear arms is fine but supporting AR-15s is not.
