Home AR-15 Why do mass shooters choose the AR-15 style rifle?

Why do mass shooters choose the AR-15 style rifle?

994
23

In the wake of yet another mass shooting in the United States, Scott Pelley revisits his 2018 report on the AR-15 style rifle and the high-velocity rounds that make the gun so deadly.

“60 Minutes” is the most successful television broadcast in history. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, over 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen’s Top 10.

Subscribe to the “60 Minutes” YouTube channel:
Watch full episodes:
Get more “60 Minutes” from “60 Minutes: Overtime”:
Follow “60 Minutes” on Instagram:
Like “60 Minutes” on Facebook:
Follow “60 Minutes” on Twitter:
Subscribe to our newsletter:
Download the CBS News app:
Try Paramount+ free:

For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com

Note to readers: Please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, social media, internet forums. etc.

23 COMMENTS

  1. So, we should demand more cigarettes to fight lung cancer?

    How about we encourage obesity to fight coronary heart disease?

    We definitely need more guns to fight gun violence!

  2. Blame the NRA. That sincerely is the quickest way to assign blame because it's demonstrably and logically true.

    There's more to it: the culture itself, but the NRA has become full of fanatics. They should be forcibly disbanded and outlawed. I would love to to be in on that.

  3. This is a scary sad event that is happening way to often in our country, I don't believe the founding fathers of our country could imagine weapons like this could exist much less our citizens would turn in to mass murders. Killing children old people anyone they can shoot down. The so called leaders of our country should feel need a obligation to do something. Drugs in lower income communities are now in all communitiesthe failure to act is a slow painful course to take.

  4. The irony is the people who posture and bluster about the people who do this, and insist more access to guns is needed to stop them…are the same people who aided in creating this atmosphere in the first place. You are ONE aspect of it.

    Insecure, adolescent machismo in grown men and the idiotic militant U.S. mindset of always having the most power and ability to run roughshod over everyone is what the gun freaks here are all about.

    I'm at the point of despising a large and varied proportion of this country.

    I started out being pretty right-wing. I'm rethinking some of that now. The trash you have to meet is changing me.

  5. In my state we can buy AR’s at 18 but can’t buy tobacco related products till we’re 21. Not that I would buy either but that just shows you where we are in the world.

  6. Training civilians is good for awareness, but will not change anything, because in the panic situation few will do it correctly. GET RID OF GUNS AND SOLVE THE PROBLEM

  7. Also, the United States is the only civilized nation that has a constant stream of mass shootings. Now, I am not saying other nations haven't had this problem at one time or another but, they saw a problem and had a civilized debate to correct a problem. A consensus was reached and problem was solved. The United States on the other hand can't agree on anything. This is why every major problem we have is either kicked down the road or downplayed as long as the money keeps rolling in. For those who refuse even basic common sense legislation like universal background checks, age restrictions, or at the very least basic safety training, my question is why? Is it better for a little bit of hassle instead of waiting for the next mass shooting which might happen to your community, your kids, etc.

  8. This episode show what unintendedconsequences are all about.

    A weapon put in combat during Vietnam now makes into the hands of unstable civilians.

    Every time America goes about "saving democracies " this is what they bargained for.

    When one anonymous victim is at the end of a gun barrel at some dead end third world country , nobody seems to be fazed while seeing the news.

    Now , when your school in suburbia or Main Street gets it first hand , now you care.

  9. Why wouldn't you choose an AR-15? It's cheap, modular, and reliable. Add a 30, 50, or 100 round magazine and you have a efficient killing weapon system. Add a bullet proof vest and now you have the modern American mass shooter. This is the country we live in. Even our children have to contend with it.

  10. Amazing and nearly insane AND inane that a few gun loving m'rons here are focused on how they portrayed the weapon itself.

    I'm without a doubt no 'liberal' , not one whatsoever, but some of you that pass for people are beyond disgusting. You are also definite cowards because you are terrified to do without your guns. So it all becomes a vicious circle.

  11. Ar-15s and M16A2s use a 5.56mm NATO rounds. These weapons were designed to destroy your enemies efficiently and easily. Why the civilian sector was given the AR-15 is beyond me. It has no reason to be amongst the population unless you are preparing for a hostile enemy army.

Leave a Reply