What is the AR-15 rifle like, how much is it worth and why is its civilian use legal in the United States?

Connor Sturgeon killed five people on Monday and injured eight inside the bank where he worked in Louisville, USA. The 25-year-old carried out the massacre with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, the weapon used in some of the deadliest mass killings in that country.

In accordance with Telemundo News, semi automatic rifle AR-15 it has killed almost 63% of the people killed in a mass shooting since 2012.

READ ALSO: Who was Connor Sturgeon, the perpetrator of the shooting at a Louisville bank who was going to be fired and broadcast the attack live

That is, if you count the 10 mass shootings with AR-15 that there were since 2012 with at least 10 deaths, the total number of deaths was 207. In the same period but in massacres where other weapons were used, the total number of victims reached 122.

A worker inspects an AR-15 weapon at Davidson Defense in Orem, Utah, on March 20, 2020. (Photo by GEORGE FREY/AFP) (GEORGE FREY/)

The weapon was created in the 50s of the last century for combat in the jungles of Vietnam. The objective was to replace the obsolete weaponry of the United States Army.

For those years, the Soviets had the Kalashnivov AK-47 rifleswhich were cheap, easy to produce, light and very resistant, so much so that today they are the favorite weapons of many regular armies and subversive groups.

According to the Spanish newspaper ABC, the United States Government contacted the company ArmaLite Division of Fairchild Engine & Airplane Corp to design a survival rifle for the Air Force, and within weeks the company submitted the AR-5which was a success because it was made of lightweight materials such as plastic and aluminum instead of metal and wood.

Then ArmaLite designed and presented the AR-10, which was not expected. For this reason, in 1957 the company was asked to design a new 5.56 mm caliber rifle. Eugene Stonerthe company’s engineer, used the best features of the weapons on the market –among them the famous German STG-44– in his prototype, mixed them with his ideas and thus the AR-15 rifle.

ArmaLite sold AR-15 design to Colt and the rifle became part of the American military system as the M16 rifle.

Then, in 1963, Colt introduced the AR-15 to the market as the semi-automatic version of the M16 rifle to be sold to civilians.

A CompMag fixed magazine conversion kit for an AR-15 rifle, installed to make the weapon compliant with restrictive states like California. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP). (PATRICK T. FALLON /)

An explanation from CNN indicates that the AR-15 is a tactical weapon which allows for high-capacity magazines, giving the attacker enormous lethal power without wasting time reloading their ammo. It is reliable, fast, and can use mags with ample ammo.

It’s about a semi automatic weapon, that is, each time the trigger is fired it fires a single bullet and the next one is reloaded. In the case of automatic weapons (in the case of AR-15s designed for military use only), holding the trigger empties the magazine.

But, as CNN points out, some AR-15 rifles can be modified into automatic weapons. “A seasoned attacker can fire up to 60 rounds a minute and can get modified magazines,” CNN reports.

The range of the bullet ranges between 400 and 600 meters and they are weapons that are usually seen in shooting competitions or in hunting activities.

Bulletproof vests worn by police do not fully protect against AR-15 projectiles.

According to “The Washington Post” newspaper, the AR-15 rifles they fire very small bullets at high velocity that do not follow a straight line trajectory. This causes a “explosion effect” that destroys the organs that it impacts and makes the recovery of the victim practically impossible. In the event that the affected person survives, he is exposed to deadly sequelae.

Depending on the brand, accessories and other features, an AR-15 can cost anywhere from under $500 online to over $3,000.

On the website of Daniel Defense, the company that manufactured the weapon used by the Uvalde shooter Salvador Ramos, who killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School in May 2022, you can find AR-15 rifles for between $1,800 and $3,400. .

Michael Weeks, a gun store owner in Georgia, told CNN in 2017 that at the time these rifles were banned prices rose to more than $1,000 on average and when the ban was lifted at his store It was selling from $400.

It should be noted that between 1994 and 2004 assault weapons for civilian use were prohibited in the United States.

A customer looks at a custom-built AR-15-style rifle at Davidson Defense in Orem, Utah, on February 4, 2021. (GEORGE FREY / AFP) (GEORGE FREY/)

A 2022 AP report revealed that firearms manufacturers in USA earned more than 1 billion dollars from the sale of AR-15 style rifles in the last decade.

A study carried out by the Small Arms Survey organization in 2018 estimated that some 400 million weapons circulate in the country. Of this, about 20 million would be AR-15 riflesaccording to the National Shooting Sports Foundation group.

And why is it so popular? In their sales strategies, manufacturers emphasize that these weapons are aimed at young men as a way to prove their masculinity, according to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the United States House of Representatives.

Matthew Walther, editor of The Lamp, a Catholic literary magazine, wrote in The New York Times that “The AR-15 sits at the intersection of a relatively innocent hobby and the sinister popularization of traits of 1990s militia culture, even among people who lead law-abiding lives. The main selling point of the AR-15 is that it can be infinitely modified, configured, and re-imagined. It can be louder or quieter, easier to load, handle, shoot and reload, or more deadly. It is intended to be combined with a seemingly endless range of customizable stocks and grips, blast mitigation devices, piston barrels and conversion kits. These components are in turn combined with a wide assortment of accessories: vests, helmets, straps and other equipment that is always called ‘tactical’”.

This video still image courtesy of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department shows Audrey Hale holding an assault rifle in the Covenant School building. (AFP). (-/)

After every high-impact killing in the United States, sales of AR-15 rifles skyrocket. It happened after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012; the massacre in the cinema of Aurora, in Colorado, also in 2012; in San Bernardino, California, in 2015; and after that of Uvalde, in Texas, in 2022. The reason? the fear that the Government will finally prohibit its commercialization. But it is not easy to get to that point.

AR-15 rifle-style assault weapons were banned for civilian use in the United States between 1994 and 2004. Since that year the ban has not been reactivated.

The 1994 veto was thanks to an initiative of the then president Bill Clintonwhich had the support of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

Clinton’s ban had a clause stating that it would lapse in 10 years if Congress did not pass it again.

CNN explains that there are only talks to reinstate the veto, but for it to be a reality, a bill from Congress would be needed. And as the positions of the congressmen are, in the short term an initiative of this type would not prosper in the Capitol.

Source: Elcomercio