Home AR-15 The AR-15: Exploring America’s Most Wanted Rifle, Part 2 | AJ+ Docs

The AR-15: Exploring America’s Most Wanted Rifle, Part 2 | AJ+ Docs

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A shooting in Washington state provides a window into America’s obsession with the AR-15. In the summer of 2016, a 19-year-old in a Seattle suburb gunned down three peers with a rifle that he called “a symbol of power.” Increasingly popularized by movies and video games, the AR-15 has become a weapon of choice in some of America’s bloodiest mass shootings.

AJ+’s documentary series Guns in America explores how fear and power define Americans’ relationship with guns. The six-part series examines the controversy over assault rifles, guns in schools, the rise of concealed carry, the NRA’s new agenda, smart guns and record shooting rates in Chicago.

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46 COMMENTS

  1. This has nothing to do with the AR-15. This is about mental health, social media and society. Ban it! Go ahead! Socialist Democrats, in 50 years it'll be the FU-76 rifle with different features they'll try to ban too. Sad but true.

  2. Let's talk about America's obsession with assault shoes. 100% of mass shooters would never have left their parent's basement without strapping on a pair of shoes. Who else wears shoes? Bin laden, Hitler, Mao, and Mussolini. Coincidence? I think not. Write your representatives and tell them they have blood on their feet!!!

  3. all due restect to the families, but these retards keep saying "assault weapons", the ar-15 is not an assault weapon. For it to be an assault weapon it must have full auto fire capability, it does not it's semi-auto only. They are deliberately skewing the facts.

  4. I stopped watching at 3:15 when they tried to paint the picture that gun violence went down after the 2004 "assault weapons" ban, when it didn't. Giving selective information is the same as lying.

  5. Stats are way off. Most gun violence including mass shootings are from small arms. Almost every single mass shooter had SEVERAL hand guns but if they also had one AR-15 then the AR-15 is all they talk about. It's on the FBI website. This is just propaganda. I can't stand when some politician tells me what I need or don't need to properly defend myself when my home is being invaded by multiple criminals. They used to blame rock and roll, then it was violent movies and now it's video games. Give me a break. Just more anti-gun propaganda.

  6. It's because of Journalism like this. attorney general like Bob Ferguson and a mayor like the one in Mukilteo, that taxes the hell out of everyone who's honest and who plays by the rules .that is why you will never get our guns. Enjoy your heroin addicts your property crime you should be plenty busy their problems you created.

  7. these are tragedies where you should go is after all guns because if it wasn't an AR-15 it would have been a double Barrel duck gun. Or a handgun with a 7-round magazine. You must be government paid propaganda you're right in there narrative.

  8. Firearms are not easily accessible as everyone thinks. Do I believe we need a reasonable back ground check system…yes. Do I believe 18-20 should be restricted from owning firearms…HELL NO! You do not get the luxury of picking and choosing which parts of the Constitution your going to follow. It is the law of the land…PERIOD! And don't give me that BS that it is outdated and needs to meet the times of today. The failure is a break down of society. Educating about the Constitution, Bill of Rights, The Federalist Papers have been missing from our school systems for years. In the home is also a huge problem with parents caving to the society changes and the break down in communication. Kids now a days care more for their social status than ever before. Its all about that Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

    Lastly…we as a society have completely disconnected ourselves from what life has to offer in our world. Best way to think of it, we have plugged into the matrix.

  9. This video is full of shit! Starting with their statistics about 3:30 into the video. The "Ban" on "Assault Rifles" was exactly that, on Assault Rifles (automatic weapons) such as AK-47's, UZI's and such. The civilian AR-15 never has been nor will be considered an "Assault Weapon" because it's a semi-automatic weapon just like any other legal rifle or handgun. There never has been a lift of the ban on assault weapons. You still can NOT have an automatic aka assault weapon. The AR-15 is simply a cheaper alternative over a standard rifle for long range shooting and looks more intimidating or "cool". It's the ignorant people that typically know nothing about weapons that are crying about banning a single, specific weapon that has no special powers any more than any other semi-automatic rifle. Alcohol is responsible for the deaths of far more people in a year than any AR-15 is. However, you don't see people calling to ban certain types of alcohol or all alcohol for some odd reason. Wait, so it's the drunk driver that killed that family of 8 in a mini van, not the alcohol, right? It's the same for the AR-15 and other weapons, it's the PERSON that did it, not the weapon. Would people have felt better if the mass shooters used two Glock-19 handguns with multiple 15 round magazines? Come on, give it up already. Get educated and support the 2nd Amendment.

  10. I like how they fail to mention that the FBI did a study and found that the Assualt Weapons Ban had little or no affect on the crime rate. They also fail to mention that the vast majority, abt 2/3 of mass shooters use handguns and not semiautomatic rifles

  11. It's funny how they say that during the ban people killed with assault weapons declined but in fact, the number of gun murder overall went up. let's face it that's all that matters.

  12. In My Country there are also no Guns allowed, when you got a Gun no matter how small the GSG9 or SEK will swat you down and put you into jail.
    Also all kinds of weapons are forbidden even Tactical knifes, Swords,…. you can buy them but not wearing them.
    We have also no shooting, this is very very rare when someone got an illegal gun or uses a gun meant fur hunting but even with this it is hard to kill. When there is a crime mostly be done with knives, but mostly everyone can hide or defend or survive a knife attacker.

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