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Thoughts on the history of the AR-15
Right here. His thought that the AR-15 popularity was due to an act of Bill Clinton (and not the signing of the "Assault Weapons Ban," either) is interesting.
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My recollection is that semi-automatic military guns or guns resembling military weapons were available back in the 70s but they were uncommon.
This was about the time that Big Gun Control & the legacy media finally realized that their "Saturday Night Special" crusade was a flop. They went looking for something else to ban. "Assault Weapons and "Weapons of War" became their next target.
The problem, as before, was overreach. Had Big Gun Control stayed focused on AR-15s they might have prevailed. Instead, everything became an "Assault Weapon". My favorite was when New Jersey briefly banned the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun as an assault weapon. The 22 semi-automatic squirrel gun that Dad hunted with is now an evil assault weapon. There are assault knives and assault pistols and even assault slingshots. I'm waiting for idiot bureaucrat to declare rocks are assault weapons.
As a marketing campaign, Big Gun Control has been quite adept at selling guns. The attitude seems to be that if they don't want us to have it then we must have it. People are buying all kinds of military looking junk. One can only speculate that people like Bloomberg are somehow profiting from this latest crusade.
I think one of the reasons for the popularity is the fact is has been the service rifle for 65+years. My first rifle in the USMC was an M-14, but most of those who have used the various incarnations of Stoner's design have never had anything else. It is reliable, it is common, and so are the parts and accessories. And the former troops are familiar with it. I must admit, I bought my first M-14 clone and first AR (a Colt) right before, and also because of the 1986 law. A dozen or so magazines too.