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An AR-15 style rifle is a semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. After Colt's patents expired in 1977, an expanded marketplace emerged with many manufacturers producing their own version of the AR-15 design for commercial sale. The Federal Assault Weapons Ban restricted the Colt AR-15 and derivatives from 1994-2004, although it did not affect rifles with fewer feaures. They are referred to as modern sporting rifles by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade association, and by some manufacturers.

Since 2010, AR-15 style rifles have become one of the "most beloved and most vilified rifles" in the United States, according to the New York Times. It has been promoted as "America's rifle" by the National Rifle Association. It has also been the weapon used in many of the largest mass shootings in the US. There are an estimated 10-12 million in circulation in the United States.

Terminology

In 1956, a lightweight assault rifle was designed for military use by ArmaLite and designated the ArmaLite Rifle-15, or AR-15. Due to financial problems, ArmaLite sold the design and the AR-15 trademark to Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1959. In 1964, Colt began selling its own version with an improved semi-automatic design known as the Colt AR-15. After Colt's patents expired in 1977, an active marketplace emerged for other manufacturers to produce and sell their own AR-15 style rifles.

In 2009, the term "modern sporting rifle" was coined by the National Shooting Sports Foundation for its survey that year as a marketing term used by the firearms industry to describe modular semi-automatic rifles including AR-15s. Today, nearly every major firearm manufacturer produces its own generic AR-15 style rifle. As Colt continues to own and use the AR-15 trademark for its line of AR-15 variants, other manufacturers must use their own model numbers and names to market their AR-15 style rifles for commercial sale.

Sales

The first version produced for commercial sale by Colt was the AR-15 Sporter, in .223 Remington, with a 20 inch barrel and issued with 5-round magazines. Initial sales of the Colt AR-15 were slow, primarily due to its fixed sights and carry handle that made mounting a scope difficult and awkward to use.

In the 1990s, sales of AR-15 style rifles increased dramatically. Partly as a result of the introduction of the flat top upper receiver allowing scopes and sighting devices to be easily mounted and new features such as free floating hand guards that increased accuracy. While only a handful of companies were manufacturing these rifles in 1994, by the 21st century the number of AR-15 style rifles had more than doubled. From 2000 to 2015, the number of manufacturers of AR-15 style variants and knock-offs increased from 29 to about 500.

Variations and modularity

Today, AR-15 style rifles are available in a wide range of configurations and calibers from a large number of manufacturers. These configurations range from standard full-sizes rifles with 20 inch barrels, to short carbine-length models with 16 inch barrels, adjustable length stocks and optical sights, to long range target models with 24 inch barrels, bipods and high-powered scopes. These rifles may also have short-stroke gas piston system, forgoing the direct gas system standard in the original AR-15 design. These calibers include the 5.56×45mm NATO, 5.7×28mm, 6.8mm Remington SPC,.300 Blackout, 9×19mm Parabellum and .458 SOCOM to name a few.

Due to the vast assortment of aftermarket parts and accessories available, AR-15 style rifles have also been referred to as "the Swiss Army knife of rifles", "Barbie Dolls for Guys" or "LEGOs" for adults.

Use in mass shootings

Following the use of a Colt AR-15 rifle in the Port Arthur massacre, the worst single-person shooting incident in Australian history, the country enacted the National Firearms Programme Implementation Act 1996, restricting the private ownership of "high capacity" semi-automatic rifles (Category D) in that country.

AR-15 variants have been used in mass shootings in the United States, including in the 1982 killing spree by George Banks in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, 2012 Aurora shooting, 2015 San Bernardino attack, the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting, the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, and the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. However, they are used in a low percentage of firearms homicides in the U.S. overall, which are dominated by handguns rather than rifles.

AR-15 style rifles have been described as "the weapons of choice" of perpetrators in mass shootings by CNN and the PBS News Hour in 2016, U.S. News & World Report and USA Today in 2017, and in 2018 by The New York Times and by the editorial board of The Washington Post, which called for a ban.

List of models

• ArmaLite M-15
• Barrett REC7
• Bushmaster XM-15
• Colt AR-15
• Carbon 15
• Daniel Defense DDM4
• DPMS Panther Arms Tactical Rifle
• Heckler & Koch MR556
• Lewis Machine & Tool Company CQB16
• LWRC International IC series
• Mossberg Tactical Semi-Automatic Rifles
• Olympic Arms K series
• Patriot Ordnance Factory rifles and carbines
• Remington R5 RGP
• Rock River Arms LAR-15
• Ruger SR-556
• Savage Arms MSR-15
• SIG Sauer SIG516
• SIG Sauer SIGM400
• Smith & Wesson M&P15
• Stag Arms STAG-15
• Wilson Combat Tactical Rifle

See also

• List of Colt AR-15 & M16 rifle variants, a list of Colt-made firearms based on the ArmaLite AR-15 design
• List of AR platform calibers, a list of calibers that AR-15 type firearms are chambered for
• Assault weapons legislation in the United States

References

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10. Peters, Justin (2016-06-14). "Omar Mateen Had a "Modern Sporting Rifle"". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
11. ^ "DPMS Founder and President Retires". The Outdoor Wire Digital Network. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2013. Luth's quest to introduce the hunting market to the AR platform was recognized in January 2009 when he was named to the Outdoor Life's OL-25, and later chosen by online voters as the OL-25 "Reader's Choice" recipient. The recent campaign by the NSSF to educate hunters everywhere about the "modern sporting rifle" can be directly attributed to Luth's push to make AR rifles acceptable firearms in the field, the woods and on the range.
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19. Evolution of an AR | Gear | Guns & Ammo Archived September 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Archives.gunsandammo.com (August 29, 2011). Retrieved on 2011-09-27.
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33. Nussbaum, Paul (May 20, 1983). "Banks Recounts Details of 12 Shootings". Philadelphia Inquirer. When he woke up, Banks said, he sat up and without provocation shot Regina Clemens, 29, with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle as she sat next to him on the sofa. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
34. "Decades on death row: Now delusional, George Banks killed 13 people, including 5 of his children in 1982". The Patriot-News. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press. September 29, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2018. Banks wore military-style fatigues and a T-shirt that read, "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out," as he used an M-16 rifle and an AR-15 automatic rifle to end the lives of girlfriends Regina Clemens, 29, Dorothy Lyons, 29, Sharon Mazzillo, 24, and Susan Yuhas, 23; sons Kissmayu, 5, Boende, 4, and Forarode, 1; daughters Montanzima, 6, and Maritanya, 1; and four others: Lyons' daughter, Nancy, 11; Mazzillo's nephew, Scott, 7, and mother, Alice, 47; and Raymond Hall, 24, a guest at a party across the street from the Schoolhouse Lane crime scene.
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37. "In Many U.S. States, 18 Is Old Enough to Buy a Semiautomatic". CBS News. The Associated Press. February 16, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018. On average, more than 13,000 people are killed each year in the United States by guns, and most of those incidents involve handguns while a tiny fraction involve an AR-style firearm. Still, the AR plays an oversized role in many of the most high-profile shootings...
38. Balko, Radley (2013-07-09). Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces. PublicAffairs. ISBN 9781610392129.
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45. Editorial Board (February 15, 2018). "Ban these weapons of war". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 27, 2018. These weapons designed for combat, accompanied by multiple ammunition magazines, have become the weapons of choice for mass shooters. It is time for a national ban on their sale and possession.
46. Editorial Board (February 25, 2018). "Guns are Killing our Inalienable Right to Life". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 27, 2018.

Bibliography

• Stevens, R. Blake and Edward C. Ezell. The Black Rifle M16 Retrospective. Enhanced second printing. Cobourg, Ontario, Canada: Collector Grade Publications Incorporated, 1994. ISBN 0-88935-115-5.
• Bartocci, Christopher R. Black Rifle II The M16 Into the 21st Century. Cobourg, Ontario, Canada: Collector Grade Publications Incorporated, 2004. ISBN 0-88935-348-4.

• ArmaLite AR-10 derivatives
• 5.56 mm firearms
• Semi-automatic rifles
• Semi-automatic pistols
• Semi-automatic shotguns
• AR Rifle Components