From Greg Fallis:
Yeah, I don't know how many blog posts I've written about guns and gun violence. Two or three dozen, probably. Maybe more. I'm not going to bother to count them. I'm mentioning that because yesterday WaPo published a piece called Terror on Repeat (this is a free gift link; you needn't subscribe to WaPo to read it), which focuses on America's mass murder sweetheart firearm: the AR-15.
The WaPo describes the piece as "the most comprehensive account to date of the repeating pattern of destruction wrought by the AR-15." And hey, maybe it is. It's certainly a powerful piece and I think y'all should deffo read it. It also says, "the full effects of the AR-15's destructive force are rarely seen in public." Which is true. But while the article does include photograph that reveal more of the weapon's destructive power than most folks have ever seen, they don't (and probably shouldn't) show the REAL full effects of the AR-15. That would be the staggering damage it does to the body–especially the small bodies of children.
WaPo acknowledges that the AR-15 "was originally designed for military combat," Most folks have heard that, of course. And most folks think the AR-15 is some sort of watered down version of the M16, a lesser weapon, an M16 Lite. Which is only sorta kinda accurate. Here are the main differences between the two.
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- The M16 has a heavier and longer barrel. A heavier barrel is more effective for prolonged and sustained firing by reducing heat-related accuracy issues. The 20-inch barrel also increases the rifle's accuracy and effective range, making it effective for combat situations. The AR-15 usually comes with a lighter, shorter (16-inch) barrel, making it easier to handle and more effective in close quarters.
- The M16's bolt carrier is capable of both semi-automatic and automatic fire. Automatic fire means the rifle will continue to shoot as long as the trigger is held down. It's capable of firing around 800 rounds per minute. The M16's safety selector has three positions: safe, semi-automatic, and automatic/burst fire (in this setting, pulling and releasing the trigger will fire a burst of three rounds). The bolt carrier in the AR-15 is designed for semi-automatic fire only; its safety selector has only two positions: safe and fire. Semi-auto fire means the weapon will fire one round each time you pull the trigger. An unmodified AR-15 is capable of around 45 rounds per minute.
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That's it. Those are the only meaningful differences between an M16 and an AR-15. The M16 was designed for combat. The AR-15 may not have been intentionally designed for mass murder, but there's a reason it's the mass murder weapon of choice: it's really, really, really effective at killing lots of people, usually at close range, in a relatively short time.
Does it have any other uses? Well, sure. I mean, you could use one to pound nails. It wouldn't make a very good hammer, but it would work. As a firearm, though, it's got limited utility. They're fun to shoot (yeah, I've fired a few different AR-15 variants) and they're easy to shoot. They're easy because they use a gas impingement system. Basically that redirects some of the energy from a fired bullet into reloading the next bullet, which translates as less recoil. You can fire LOTS of rounds without bruising the shit out of your shoulder. And the AR-15 is like Barbie for gun nuts; it's more a firearm platform than an actual gun–you can swap out parts and modify an AR-15 to achieve different looks. So they're popular with gun nuts as well as mass murderers.
But down at the bone, the AR-15 is basically a murder machine. It would be smart if the US would ban the sell and importation of AR-15 variants (we won't do that). It would be even smarter to ban possession of AR-15 variants (no fucking way we'll do that). But we're not smart. So we're stuck in a nation that has around 25,000,000 AR-15s in circulation. Twenty-five million murder machines. And more sold every year.
I think maybe the saddest thing…one of the very many sad things…about the WaPo article is this: there are folks out there (and by 'folks' I mean 'guys') who will read the article, who'll look at the photographs and see all the blood, see all the destruction, who'll read the statistics about the lethality of the AR-15, and they'll be thinking, "I have GOT to get me one of those."
Here's a true thing: men commit around 98% of all mass murders; they (okay, we) are responsible for probably 90% of all murders. The vast majority of physical violence is committed by men. Around 80% of AR-15 owners in the US are men. I think it's pretty safe to say there's a serious problem with male culture in the US. We're not going to solve our gun violence problems until we solve our problems with male culture.
EDITORIAL NOTE: We really must burn the patriarchy. It's poison for everybody, regardless of gender or identity. We need to burn it to the ground and bury the ashes. We need to burn it and bury it and place a curse on the burial site. We need to destroy the patriarchy at the atomic level, so that no two patriarchal particles will ever touch again. We need to end the patriarchy, then buy ice cream and eat it really slow.