Quote:
“The AR-15 was specifically engineered for the U.S. military to meet the needs of changing warfare,” Josh Koskoff of the law firm Koskoff, Koskoff & Beider in Bridgeport, Connecticut, said in a press release. “The weapon was not designed for home defense or hunting. This weapon was designed to efficiently kill other human beings in combat.”
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Not really, the M-16 was engineered for the US military. It was designed to meet a military requirement which prioritized reduction in costs, magazine capacity, standardization on a single round, and the ability to carry greater quantities of ammunition over lethality (ability to kill). The 5.56mm was significantly smaller and lighter than the 7.62mm (.300) round or the .30-06 it was intended to replace. It was significantly cheaper- so a significant savings due to quantities involved. Lighter and smaller meant an infantryman or unit could carry significantly more ammunition, easier/cheaper to transport in large quantities, and the magazines were initially intended to be disposable- i.e. come pre-loaded and then be discarded when empty. The M-16 is a machine gun and can fire more than one round per pull of the trigger, initial M-16s were capable of full auto which was subsequently changed to limit them to burst fire (i.e 3 or 5 rounds vice firing until the magazine is empty), military found that with full auto vice burst fire machine guns troops were wasting much of their ammunition and going through it too quickly. This is why the M-16/M4 are assault rifles - medium caliber infantry rifles capable of select fire between either semi-auto or automatic fire.
The round itself is far more likely to wound than kill compared to the rounds it was replacing, some say this was intentional in that wounding an enemy diverts resources to attending them vice fighting. M-16s have not been available for sale to the US public since the 1986 ban on the sale of new production machine guns to the public.
In fact, the recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have resulted in the Army and USMC examining other caliber options with greater lethality than the 5.56mm, it has been criticized as inadequate by a number of the units during the past decade.
The AR-15 is designed for civilian use by both civilians and law enforcement, commonly chambered in .223 Remington (a lower pressure and slower round than the 5.56mm). The shortened version- often referred to as the M-4 (military) or M4gery is almost perfectly suited to home defense. Hence why SWAT teams and the police routinely use them when doing building entry and clearing. The high-speed and lightweight round, as others have said, fragments on hitting even drywall at close range and begins to lose energy rapidly on the other side of obstructions. Unlike many higher-caliber pistol rounds and buckshot which retain more energy for longer after barrier penetration. It may still be lethal after penetration but will be so for a shorter time/distance. Most have integrated rails allowing for the installation of accessories like ‘tactical lights’ which make operating the weapon AND IDENTIFYING A TARGET in the dark easier and more likely to occur-- less likely to shoot the boyfriend a daughter snuck into the house. The ability to attach a sling enables the user to gather his family, manipulate a cell phone etc without giving up control of the weapon. That is, having to set it down. Additionally, the weapon is easier to load or unload than a fixed magazine allowing one to store the weapon unloaded with a magazine nearby, vice storing loaded; as well as easier to safely unload and check clear after use. The standard capacity of 30 rounds is superior for home defense to a shotgun or other rifle in an incident involving multiple intruders- i.e. home invasions getting fairly common in the southwest United States. This is particularly beneficial to the homeowner, who unlike law enforcement will be far more likely to be alone without backup readily available.
A useful feature of the AR 15 is civilian can choose calibers other than the 5.56mm or .223 to address penetration/lethality concerns. For example, the .300 Blackout which is produced in both subsonic and supersonic variants.
Variants of the AR-15 modern sporting rifle are the most popular rifle sold and are routinely used for hunting, target shooting, and self-defense. The modular nature of the AR15 makes them particularly well suited to recreational shooting and hunting due to the ability change uppers, triggers, optics, stock and caliber. Flexibility to use one weapon for numerous purposes. As mentioned above, being able to change the upper from a .223, to a 300 Blackout makes these rifles well-suited to civilian use in a number of applications
The suit states that -]assault rifles /-] The weapon was not an assault rifle, it was not a military rifle, it was not selectable to automatic firelike Lanza’s were previously used in …
Depends on the type of body armor, again, the .223 or 5.56 are far less capable of penetrating body armor than the typical hunting rifle
The common thread in these spree shootings was their occurrence in a gun-free zone, a quality that all the other spree shootings, for example Virginia Tech, where the perpetrator used handguns. Note, at VT the perpetrator also used chains to lock the entrances significantly delay weapons other than his entering the area. Perhaps their suit would be better directed at the government and laws which are a more common factor in spree shootings than weapon choice
