American Greatness Why do so many mass shootings involve an AR-15? I saw an NRA spokesman on CNN address this question—very badly, as often is the case with the pro-gun side—by saying semi-automatic rifles have existed for a very long time, and there’s nothing special about the AR-15 except the way it looks and all the bad press it’s gotten (and perhaps its appearance in various video games).
It would be much more honest to say the reason many mass shootings involve an AR-15 is that the AR-15 is the most effective commercially available rifle in America. It is an exceptional design: Low-recoiling, light enough even for a small person to handle, accurate yet reliable, easy—with adequate training—to point, to maneuver, to reload. It is the obvious choice for any task that involves killing people at short to medium range.
But which would have saved more children in Uvalde: If the shooter had been armed with a Winchester 1873 instead of an AR-15, or if the police had not spent an hour hiding outside the school? Why is our first reaction to a shooting always that the government needs more power, and the individual less? Why is that our first reaction to all crises? Has the government performed so well? Ever? In anything?…
