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Comment by throaway46546 | Hacker News Reader

Assault rifles were banned in 1986. The only assault rifles available on the civilian market are registered pre-ban ones. Due to limited supply they tend to be quite expensive ($10,000+). You have to register with the ATF and pay a special tax to purchase one.

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Huh? Pretty sure you can still buy an AR-15 in a lot of states, am I missing something?

An AR-15 style rifle is not an assault rifle. The definition of an assault rifle is "a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine". Selective fire means "the capability of a weapon to be adjusted to fire in semi-automatic, burst mode, and/or fully automatic firing mode". These were banned by the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act.

There are "assault weapon" bans like that in my home state of California that ban certain cosmetic features on guns. These are completely pointless as an AR-15 is functionally no different from any other semi-automatic firearm.

Examples:

Assault Rifle

https://i.imgur.com/pGnxHRD.jpg

"Assault Weapon"

https://i.imgur.com/xhsZ2dK.jpg

Not an "Assault Weapon"

https://i.imgur.com/VKtpdSy.jpg

This is the kind of autistic pedantry I come to HN for. I don't know what I was thinking.

thank you

What makes an Armalite Rifle-15 significant to you?

I ask because it isn't actually all that interesting as far as guns go.

It shoots a fairly low-power cartridge, roughly equivalent to 30-30, which means that it isn't powerful enough for deer hunting in some states. That's part of why it's easy to shoot even for XX folks. (Another part is the ergonomics; the stock and hand-grip make it easier to shoot correctly from the shoulder than most rifles.)

It's semi-auto, but so are most guns these days. It doesn't shoot any faster than other semi-autos. Standard capacity magazines aren't any larger.

It is possibly the most popular rifle of all time, certainly in the last 50+ years.

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