If you’re still with me, then maybe you’re beginning to understand why the AR-15 platform is the most popular type of rifle in America. The AR-15’s incredible flexibility, accuracy, and ease-of-use combine with its status as the most thoroughly tested and debugged firearm in military history to make it massively popular with shooters of all stripes, from hunters to home defense buyers to competitors to police. Parts for the AR are available everywhere, and the internet is chock full of maintenance information and training videos.
The rifle’s popularity is almost certainly the main reason why mass shooters increasingly reach for it when they go on a rampage. Think about it: If you’re planning to shoot up a room full of people, are you going to reach for a rare, exotic weapon that you have little experience with, or will you select the familiar option that’s easy to train with and that you have plenty of practice time behind? The answer, for anybody who shoots, is the latter…
At this point, you may be thinking: “But why can’t you just buy a defense rifle or other ‘defensive’ firearm instead of an assault rifle?” The AR-15, being an assault rifle and all, is for assaulting things, and no civilian should be doing that.”
I see this “defense” versus “assault” nonsense a lot, and I just shake my head, because a “defensive” firearm has the exact same characteristics as an offensive firearm.
Specifically, in a defensive situation, you always “shoot to stop the threat,” which is a police euphemism for “shoot to kill.” I’m not aware of any place in the world where you can go and get professional firearms training and be taught to aim at an attacker’s limbs, or to shoot in a manner that is “less lethal.” Every defensive handgun class will train you to keep shooting at the vitals until the attacker is down. (And even if you were trained to shoot at limbs, you’d need a gun that’s even more controllable and accurate, because moving limbs are harder to hit than center mass!)
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