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crickets

(25,959 posts)
6. It's because technically the AR-15 is not classified as an assault rifle,
Wed May 25, 2022, 11:31 AM
May 2022

and that is because it is 'only' semi-automatic. This is solely due to the trigger mechanism. The AR-15 is not automatic; that means it requires that you pull the trigger each time you want to fire. Well, that is unless you get a bump stock.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ar15s-are-basically-assau_b_10469112

WaPo, 2018:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2018/02/15/4-basic-questions-about-the-ar-15/
no paywall: https://archive.ph/fU3fq

It's all semantics. The gun is just as deadly or easily modified to be so, but gun folks are very touchy about making the distinction. The 'AR' stands for ArmaLite, the name of the company that manufactures it, and one of the reasons it's so popular is because it's the closest civilian version of the M-16 used by the US Army. Lovely.

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