Would the Real AR-15 Please Stand Up
The AR-15 was born in 1956, by ArmaLite and is based on its bigger brother the AR-10. It was built with the military in mind and the design was sold to Colt in 1959, due to financial difficulties and limitations in terms of manpower and production capacity. In fact, even though ArmaLite designed the world-famous weapon platform, the company itself was a management nightmare. The company only had nine employees, when they released the AR-1, AR-5, and AR-7, but they sold the rights for those weapons to other companies. The company had great ideas and the military loved them, but by the ’70s the company was pretty much out of business.
The Air Force loved the AR-7 and the Army loved the AR-15. The military version of the AR-15 became the M16, the M16, became the M16A1, which became the M16A2, M16A3, and M16A4. The military wanted a few more modifications to include a shorter barrel, and the M4 Carbine was born into military service from the AR-15.
Now let’s rewind a little to talk about one of the biggest misconceptions about the AR-15.
AR stands for ArmaLite Rifle, it does NOT stand for Assault Rifle or Automatic Rifle. And the 15, does not stand for 15 MAG Clip (which actually doesn’t even make sense). I’m not sure what a 15 MAG Clip is, as a Mag and a clip are two different things. I think they are talking about a Magazine (MAG) and a clip is actually the device that the ammunition is held on if you get a box of military ammunition. I’m not sure why in the hell Hollywood uses clips when they are referring to a magazine. Now back to the AR-15, it is the 15th design that ArmaLite developed for production. This means that there must be an AR-1, AR-2, and so on. Sure enough, if you look at ArmaLite‘s Wiki page, there is an AR-1, AR-3, AR-5, AR-7, AR-9, AR10, and so on.
What we see on the market as an AR-15, is technically an AR-15-style weapon, meaning that it is based on the AR-15 characteristics and design.
So Why Is the Public Against It?
I wouldn’t say that the public is against it, they just don’t understand why you and I should be able to have one. And mass shooting incidents don’t help our case at all. If people were using a nail gun instead of an AR-15 to go and shoot up a school or a shopping center, people would want to make nail guns illegal. It really doesn’t matter what weapon people are using to carry out their evil plans, the public will instantly call for it to be banned. I don’t hear people wanting to ban the car after a drunk driver ran over a bunch of kids.
So to recap:
- AR-15 stands for ArmaLite 15
- MAG stands for magazine
- The clip isn’t an acronym, it is the name for the device that holds the ammunition
- And last but not least; Guns don’t kill people, people kill people
