At least 16 people dead and suspect at large after multiple incidents in area of Lewiston, Maine

Ok. I guess that’s why everyone who ends up killing double digits people uses an AR.

 

That’s because they’re by and large cheaper, and a lot more common, than nearly everything I listed.

Go to pretty much any gun store and it’s very likely that at least half their inventory of long guns will be ARs. Not to mention you can get into a budget AR for $350-400 bucks all in, while most of what I listed (other than the mag fed shotguns, which are kind of a rarity) is at least $1k.

 

Police Were Told Maine Gunman Had Threatened to Carry Out Shooting Spree

Police had received specific reports that he said he was going to carry out a mass shooting, and reports from the Army that he had received two weeks of mental health inpatient treatment, but never actually made contact with him after he failed to open the door once, his brother told them he would try to take his guns, and a Reserves unit commander told them he could probably use some time to himself.

 

But homeboy was waiting on his $2,000 suppressor. None of these people are seemingly hurting for money. They can afford the tactical vests and multiple clips and all the bells and whistles - not to mention most of them go in with multiple guns. I call major bullshit on this being a cost savings reason. They choose the gun because it’s the most effective way to kill the most people.

 

Paddock, the record holder for mass shooting victims had the following:



24 firearms:

• 14 .223-caliberAR-15-type rifles
• Eight .308-caliberAR-10-type rifles
• .308-caliber bolt-action rifle
• .38-caliberrevolver

 

That guy had unlimited money to carry out his plan. His sole purpose was the record. And those are the guns he chose.

 

I'm not "anti-gun." We own one pistol for home protection and I'd rather my wife take it with her when she travels out of town for work but that's about it. I respect hunters(not exotic trophy hunters) even though I don't hunt. I don't think a "ban on the AR" is a magic fix. I'm not versed on guns and ammo and I won't discount that when making an argument but I have to say that your responses support the issues people have with AR type high capacity rifles in the U.S.

Unaccounted for, easily accessed, user friendly, high capacity, cheap and efficient instruments in mass killing.

High quality guitars are harder to obtain than AR type rifles apparently when considering price and playability. Somewhat facetious....somewhat

 

I don’t think it’s just cost - although that’s probably a partial factor for young people like school shooters.

Commonality, however, is very likely a significant driver - they’re the single most commonly sold gun in the country, and make up the large bulk of new rifles.

To expound on that, all rifles make up between a third and half of the guns sold in the US in recent years. AR pattern rifles by themselves make up the vast majority of that, totaling about a quarter of annual US gun sales.

 

But I’m guessing more people own handguns or shotguns than do AR-10/15/whatever. I’m betting a smaller number of people own a whole bunch of those. Like paddock. So while there are just as many in circulation, far fewer people own them.

How many ARs do you own Ben?

 

You’re still grossly overestimating the popularity of shotguns.

Here’s ATF’s firearms commerce report: https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/report/2021-firearms-commerce-report/download

Note that, for purposes of interpreting that, it’s likely safe to assume that most of the “miscellaneous firearms” are AR’s (it’s largely receivers that are legally a firearm but haven’t yet been built into a full gun that fits one of the other classifications, which is likely mostly AR “stripped receivers”).

In any event, mostly anecdotal, but I think the idea that “single gun owners” are owners of handguns is likely somewhat outdated. It definitely used to be the case that people who owned one gun just owned a pistol, but it seems to have become far more common in recent years for an AR to be a “first gun” or “only gun” purchase. And most people that own multiple guns likely own both multiple ARs and multiple handguns, and my personal experience is that they generally own more pistols than ARs even if they own a whole lot of both.

 

I disagree and I’m inclined to not believe your anecdotal evidence because you are probably surrounded by similar thinking gun enthusiasts.

Roughly 1 in 3 Americans owns a gun. Roughly 1 in 20 Americans owns an AR-15 (so disturbing).

I can’t find the specific information on handguns or hunting rifles of handguns. But suffice to say, most Americans that own guns do NOT own an AR-15.

 

I get what your saying BCG but I think most “Gunnuts” who have lots of guns are responsible gun owners. I own several Ar patterned guns but own more pistols, own more hunting rifles ( although I hunt a lot with my ar rifles as well.. it’s why own most of them)…and own almost as many shotguns. And weirdly right now I own almost as many black powder rifles. ( inherited several black powder kit guns. Kentucky long rifle types. )
Most gun nuts I know are like me.. a few guns that we own for hunting a few for competitions, a few for home Fl defense and a few we just like shooting.

 

National surveys by Ipsos in 2022 found that 31 percent of adults own guns. The Post-Ipsos survey of AR-15 owners estimates that 20 percent of gun owners own an AR-15-style rifle. Taken together, the polls find that 6 percent of Americans own an AR-15, about 1 in 20.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2023/american-ar-15-gun-owners/#

 

Legit question I do not know the answer too. Could those 1/3 that own a pistol own a pistol ar platform. Those became insanely popular I mean ridiculously popular and are classified as a pistol.

 

I don’t disagree with any of that. My point is simply that Ben’s comments on AR15s being the most common gun are misleading. They are the most common by sheer number, not by percentage of ownership.

 

I don’t see that as an issue. The ar has grown in popularity and I believe will continue to be the best selling rifle cartridge firearm. In the hunting and competition shooting world new calibers like 6arc 6.5 prc and others have become big draws and are chambered in the ar platforms.

 

I think sadly the ar is just the gun du hour of the moment. Remember when Glock was the cop killer? Glocks could pass through airport security ( they couldn’t but that was the hysteria around them.) Glocks became the gun for every would be tough guy and in every article/movie/debate.
That’s the ar 15 right now. “Cool looking”, efficient, effective, so when a would be killer goes to pick up a gun.. the AR calls to them.

 

I’m not sure what relevance what guns that folks who only have one gun own had to my point.

I don’t disagree that someone looking to conduct a mass shooting would buy a rifle. My own answers about what would scare me most were almost all rifles too. My point was that, once a would-be shooter decides they’re buying a rifle, the heavy majority of all rifles you’ll find for sale are ARs. And that likely plays a fairly significant role in why mass shooters wind up with them.

(I’ll also note that you should probably take gun ownership surveys with a heavy grain of salt - the survey companies themselves note the difficulties in getting good data sets on gun ownership, in part because it’s something that a lot of people don’t want to discuss with strangers and in part because there’s a fairly heavy overlap between gun owners and people that don’t trust, or otherwise won’t respond to, polls.)

 

I’m only taking issue with this comment you made:

“9mm handguns are slightly more common than ARs”

This is based on sheer numbers, not percentage of ownership. A smaller number of people have a mass concentration of guns. Most American gun owners do NOT own AR15 style weapons and it’s not even close. Your comment above suggests otherwise.

 

Why do you suppose the AR took the glock’s place? If you were going for the record would you select a Glock or an AR?