AR-15 – the deadly American obsession

First, a common misconception must be dispelled: the abbreviation AR does not stand for Assault Rifle, but for ArmaLite Rifle, the company that developed this weapon.

The father of this semi-automatic rifle was Eugene Stoner, a World War II veteran. In the 1950s he worked as an engineer for the small arms manufacturer ArmaLife. He wanted to develop the rifle exclusively for the military, an American answer to the Kalashnikov, the legendary Soviet assault rifle.

During the Vietnam War, American soldiers were equipped with this rifle. It was called the M16 and was made by Colt. This much larger arms manufacturer had taken over the patent from ArmaLife. Colt also developed a version for civilian use, the semi-automatic AR-15. The patent expired in 1977. Now every gunsmith could make his own version of the AR-15. That’s why there are different versions of it today.

Today, this weapon is ubiquitous in the United States. That shows the “Washington Post” in an extensive report. Here are some numbers: It is estimated that there are at least 20 million privately owned AR-15s in the United States. That also means that one in 20 adult Americans owns at least one piece of it. The AR-15s now dominate the windows of arms dealers. “You capture the imagination of Americans, both positively and negatively,” notes the Washington Post. “The unmistakable silhouette is used as a political statement on T-shirts and flags.”

The cult surrounding the AR-15 may be symbolic, but in reality it has deadly consequences. The perpetrators of 10 of the 17 massacres committed since 2012 used an AR-15. This weapon was also used in the most recent act in Nashville, which claimed six victims. So why didn’t the Americans ban the AR-15 not long ago? To answer that question, we need to go back to American history.

In her book The Gunning of America, historian Pamela Haag writes: “We were born with a gun culture. Americans have an extraordinary, unique, and timeless relationship with guns that began with the militias of the Revolutionary War and evolved from there.”

In the Wild West, the Winchester rifle became the symbol of the man who defended his family against Native Americans and wild animals. Its inventor, Oliver Winchester, used legends like Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane as advertising mediums. After World War I, his son William launched “the largest and most sophisticated national advertising campaign ever undertaken by an arms manufacturer,” Haag writes.

The mythologized rifle alone does not explain the success of the AR-15. Initially, the weapon was commercially unsuccessful. Even the National Rifle Association (NRA) avoided the semi-automatic weapon because it was not suitable for hunting and was far too powerful to fend off burglars. She also had a bad reputation. It was considered a “black weapon” because it did not have a wooden stock.

That changed after September 11, 2001. Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan carried their M16s and became the main vehicle to advertise the civilian version. “There has never been a better random promotion in history,” said Doug Pinter, former president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).

When the national assault weapons ban was lifted in 2004, nearly every manufacturer began touting its own version of the AR-15. They had good reason for that. The profit margin per unit is $1,000, about five times that of a regular rifle. AR-15 sales skyrocketed when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. The predominantly white residents of the countryside rushed to the gun, the industry mockingly crowned Obama “gun salesman of the year” in 2009.

Manufacturers have now turned the weapon into a consumer gadget. They have carefully ensured that even the click sound is correct when you insert the magazine. “The closest analogy to the AR gun is the baseball hat the teen wears backwards,” says Pinter. “It wasn’t cool before it suddenly got really cool.”

At the same time, almost all safety regulations fell. “This means that today a toy gun has to meet more safety regulations than a real gun,” Haag notes.

The AR-15 has long suffered from the increasing polarization of US politics. Now even people who are not gun aficionados bought the rifle to make such a mark. Conservative politicians can be photographed with it, sometimes together with their wives and children. The coat of arms became an “f-you to address the left,” says Pope Grover Norquist, the tax cut.

Together with the Second Amendment to the Constitution – which generally allows gun ownership – the AR-15 has become a haven for American conservatives. There are now real icons, for example the teenager Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two people with this weapon during riots in the city of Kenosha (Wisconsin) in the summer of 2020 and was nevertheless acquitted.

Conservative Americans’ obsession with the AR-15 is unbreakable. There will be more massacres with this deadly weapon, the Democrats will demand stricter laws, even a ban, the Republicans will block this in Congress and instead offer the victims their “thoughts and prayers”. And the NRS will keep repeating like a mantra: “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”