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Current estimates put the number of AR-15s owned by Americans at 19.8 million. In comparison, the entire US military has 4.5 million small arms. If ARs were only for "shooting a bunch of people" we'd all be dead by now. https://twitter.com/svdate/status/1385764599098662915
Of course, the most popular rifle in America is used primarily for recreational & competitive shooting, hunting, & home defense. The modular nature of the AR makes it endlessly customizable & the light weight combined with the low recoil impulse makes it very controllable.
ARs are also the preferred home defense choice for many women and physically-handicapped shooters because of its light weight and reduced recoil. https://freebeacon.com/issues/female-gun-owners-we-prefer-the-ar-15/
ARs have been used in high-profile mass shootings but overall they are rarely used in murders. All rifles, of which ARs are only a subset, have been used in an average of 315 murders over the past 5 years, according to the FBI. That's fewer than knives, blunt objects, and fists.
Here's the NSSF estimate for ARs and similar rifles which they call modern sporting rifles: https://www.nssf.org/nssf-releases-most-recent-firearm-production-figures/
Here's the most recent Small Arms Survey on the number of firearms owned by the US military. (The entire world's militaries combined only have about 22.7 million small arms. So, Americans own nearly as many ARs as the world's militaries own small arms.) https://freebeacon.com/culture/report-nearly-400-million-civilian-owned-guns-america/
Here's the FBI's most recent Uniform Crime Report detailing murder weapons: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-8.xls
A lot of things people say about the AR-15 simply aren't true. Most talking points have been repeated for decades (the AR was originally designed in 1956) and are easily debunked. But, like much of the gun debate in America, discussion on ARs is completely stagnant.
If you have interest in reading about more than just tired retread arguments about guns in America, you should sign up for my newsletter over at The Reload. It's focused on sober, serious firearms reporting and analysis: https://thereload.com/free-newsletter-signups/
