The popularity of the AR 15. Side effects of gun control.

Back in 1994 when Clinton signed into law the 1994 crime bill and so-called assault weapons ban, an unintended consequence occurred, and still occurring to the dismay of Pseudo-Americans of the left. Just after the law took affect I went to the Nashville gun show which had the largest attendance i've ever seen. That day I purchased an AK 47 that had already been imported before the law along with 6-30 round magazines. Few realized there was a large supply of AK's and variants already here along with crates of Soviet Block high capacity magazines, and of course ammo. The law mainly affected imported rifles. AK's were still affordable then, the AR 15's and clones made only by a few manufactures were in the $1200+ range but sales still increased somewhat of those, also there was a good supply of mil-surp magazines with a 20 and 30 round capacity. In 2004 President George Bush and Congress allowed the 1994 bill to sunset, since then literally "millions" of AR's and AR clones have been sold, just about every major gun maker and many new companies make their versions of AR's and many can be bought for $500+. I finally broke down and bought a basic M4 carbine type of AR for just a little over $500. Of course since then I have spent hundreds more on accessories, magazines and ammo, even the ammo is a lot less expensive now where one can find bulk deals of 1000 round cases or more.
Anyway I have often wondered what the left thought was going to happen when they attempted to tell patriotic Americans that they were second class subjects that didn't have the same rights as the political elites did because what they intended to happen and what actually happened is totally opposite, real Americans pretty much gave them the middle finger and bought tens of millions of AK and AR type semi-auto rifles. I have to laugh at some fool now who thinks some day they will ban AR and AK's and force everyone to turn them in because not only is it logistically impossible, millions of AK/AR owners will tell the traitors to go fornicate with themselves.

 

They were not only banned in Ireland, it usually meant automatic prison time if caught with one, yet you could get access to one then and now pretty quickly.

 

Criminals will always find a way.

 

Brits called them criminals; the Irish had a different name.

 

Part of the price decrease has been because of different and cheaper but not necessarily inferior manufacturing. Mil-spec was standard for lowers, but billet cut is for practical purposes just as good. Investment casting and polymer for the lowers have also lowered manufacturing costs as well as using 6000 series aluminum instead of 7000 series. Instead of chroming the barrels, nitriding seems to work at least as well if not better and improves accuracy. Civilian bolts are clearly superior to military Carpenter steel bolts. The list goes on. The modularity of the system and it's utility have made it what it is, the most popular rifle sold in the US.

 

Britain has had strict gun control laws for a long time, what I remember hearing on the news back in the 70's and 80's was that the IRA was still able to get not only guns but explosives. Just like the total ban on pot, cocaine and heroin in the U.S., those who want those drugs can find them. Many years ago there was a rough estimate, impossible to be exact of 350+ million firearms in the U.S. I remember reading that decades ago and I will guess that now there's probably close to 1/2 billion. If you keep your gun away from moisture and lubricated it will last generations along with ammo. I sometimes shoot a Moisen Nagant,(bolt action Russian military rifle) that was made in 1918 and I have fired ammo dating back to WW2, all worked just fine. It is impossible to put even the slightest dent in the number of firearms available, they will always be available and people who want and own them and no law will stop that.

 

Back in the 80's and early 90's I knew only one person who owned an AR 15, now I know many who have one, friends and family also. For a long time I was satisfied with my AK and really didn't want to pay the price for an AR, I carried around an M16A1 all over Ft. Stewart GA. from 80 to 83 shooting blanks playing war so I knew the design. A few months ago I wanted a basic AR for just some fun shooting so I bought a Del-Ton Sport Light for $500.+ by itself, now I find myself wanting all the tacti-cool accessories I can add to it. Big boys Lego set as they say. I will probably buy another later, one superior than the Del-Ton which has been 100% reliable so far and also a .300 Blackout complete upper with a quality optic.

 

In the 60's there were still caches of weapons from WWII about in NI. I remember seeing Stens, Thompsons, Lee Enfields, 1911s, Webleys, and more. Then, as now, Molotovs are manufactured on the spot for riots and inter-neighborhood conflict. Pipe bombs were manufactured using several types of explosives (still are...still a frequent weapon of choice still used on a weekly basis). Despite what the BBC says there are still caches of weapons about and certain places where weapons can be ordered from various gangs and paramilitary groups like the NIRA, CIRA, NVF, UDA, ONH as well asTraveler groups. Drug gangs in Dublin, and Limerick (Stab City) alway have them and even sometimes contract with the alphabet soup Para groups for protection, turf wars and hits...there is a gang war in progress now.

 

From what some people on the left here believe or claim, those kind of things (crime) doesn't happen in Britain.
With all the criminals, gangs and thugs, 99.9% of all law abiding gun owners including all that owns those nasty black semi-auto rifles will never murder or rob anyone else, now if some criminal thug attempts to murder them, they may very well kill the thug which in my opinion is a positive for society. Evil sociopath gone, good person lives, how can that not be good?

BTW, my dad spent some time in England with some great brave Brits in 1943 before going to France and helping to remove some bad people.

 

that number was incorrect -no online gunshop could sell that many AR 15s in a week. but the gist of the point is true, those guns were selling briskly when it looked like the Clinton Crime family would be back in the WH

 

I'm an avid gun collector and still do not own an AR. I do have a mini-15 and a mini-30 as well as an M1 Garland...So I don't really need one, and my second Standard Arms Model G should arrive from Minnesota in the next week or so. 35 Remington is one hard hitting round and should do well in bear country.

 

Is that a Merrick Garland?
I have a bunch. They are among the most versatile rifles one can own. I never have owned a Ruger Mini-14 or 30.

 

Hillary's loss will drive prices down and quality up, through competition.
Hillary loses - everyone else wins!

 

That's the greatness of America, you have a choice to buy one or not to buy one. I wasn't really all that interested for a long time, I had my AK 47 but now that I have one i'm having a lot of fun with it. Now I want a piston AR in 7.62x51 NATO/.308 with a long range quality scope. Heard good things about the Ruger SR 7.62. Not only do you have a good defensive weapon, maybe a little much for the city but great for the farm, but you also have a large game hunter. A double duty rifle.

 

I used to have a far larger collection of guns than I currently have because I used to hunt a range of game for money and subsistence. When I switched to the AR platform I acquired uppers, each with their own optics, that allowed me to switch between cartridges, using the same lower and different mags, for different game and have a consistent platform/match trigger set. Works great for me. I have uppers (each with different BCGs) for .223/5.56 (a 16" and a 20"), .22 drop in, 6.5 Grendel, and .458 SOCOM. I had an upper for .500 Beowulf (big noise.. big recoil), but didn't have a niche for it so sold it to a fellow that did more reloading than me. I sold many of my rifles, pocketing the excess difference for the uppers (in retrospect, I sold a few guns I wish I hadn't). With my set, I can cover most any game in NA and have a SD platform to boot.

 

No Standard Arms went out of business about 1917, this will be the second one I own. The first one is a 30 Remington. The cool thing about this rifle is that it is a pump as well as a semi-auto.

 

Every gun control has a side affect and often unintended consequences. When all the outrage was over "Saturday night specials", low caliber, cheap, unreliable guns. When they were banned, criminals switched to better quality, higher powered guns. During the "assault rifle" ban that included large capacity magazines, people figured if they can only have 10 rounds, might as well be higher power, so you had an increase in .40 and .45 cal handguns being bought and I recall the police complaining about being out gunned.

 

The Vile Propaganda Center (VPC) whined when Glock came out with the GLOCK 26 and 27 which were designed around the Bannerrhoid legislation's 10 round limit. The VPC clowns ranted about "pocket rockets" which of course was market solution to the idiocy of the clinton gun ban

 

Glocks... you mean those plastic guns the left said couldn't be detected and were a dangerous weapon that would be used by hijackers?
They rant about police protecting us, but then rant the police are getting too aggressive and dangerous
http://progressive.org/dispatches/police-weaponry-gets-dangerous-people-die/
There is a word for that ....

 

I suppose there is a useful purpose for the existence of the Vile Propaganda Center (VPC) but try as I might, I cannot think of one

 

You need to drink a kind of cool aid to understand

 

I assume you mean 30,000 units sold in one week. Easily done. Just before the election lowers were sold in bulk and I discovered I had a friend who purchased 300 lowers speculating Clinton would take the WH. Believe me, this guy wasn't alone in his thinking.

I am a RSO and pistol instructor that prior to the election had absolutely no intention of owning an AR. In fact I carried a .45, 30cal carbine, and M14 in the Army so that will put my age in perspective. With a (for sure) Clinton win, my 13 year old grandson and I built an AR just because we could. We started with a Mil-Spec lower and discovered names like Geissele, Trijicon, and Magpul. Expensive but very cool. I also bought several thousand rounds of 5.56 which are boxed and stored. I am one of thousands that did the same and after ordering and assembling I get e-mail ads daily from the companies that provide these components, so the 30,000/month doesn't surprise me at all. Hopefully somebody from PSA will drop in and fill in the numbers they sold pre-election.

 

Heck, Primary Arms has Anderson lowers for $35 right now. I can't even imagine how many lowers PSA and Anderson together sold last year.

 

The sad part is I am pretty sure my friend paid nearly $100ea. x the 300 he bought on speculation.