Father of 6-year-old Sandy Hook victim hopes to bring unique lawsuit against AR-15 makers

[krispos42]

20. I disagree

With the migration of Americans to urban areas and associated suburbs the intended purposes for guns have shifted. A century ago a lot of guns purchased were either for hunting or self-defense, and a fair number were dual-purpose; the lever-action rifle, for example, had enough power to take medium-sized game at 100 yards or more but was also handy enough and reloaded fast enough to make a credible self-defense gun against both humans and animal predators. A 12-gauge pump shotgun could take a bird on the wing at 40 yards or dump a load of buckshot into a deer, or an intruder.

Now, self-defense is a much larger reason for buying a gun. For example, nearly every semiautomatic pistol sold is optimized for tactical use and would make a pretty mediocre hunting gun. In fact, only a couple of types of pistol ammo are powerful enough to be legal for taking deer, none of which are the usual and typical semiauto pistol chamberings.

Therefore, Glock, Smith & Wesson, Walther, Ruger, Springfield Armory, CZ, Heckler & Koch, Rock River Arms, Kimber, Taurus, Kel-Tec, Beretta, Kahr, Sig-Sauer, etc., are not going to marketing their latest 9mm or .45 for hunting. No, it's going to promoted for either law-enforcement/private security markets or the individual personal-protection market. There aren't going to be pastoral scenes with hunting buddies have a good time in the wild; it's going to be in grim self-defense situations taking place in urban or suburban areas.

Same goes for rifles and shotguns. While obviously a lot of rifles and shotguns are optimized for hunting use and marketed as such, a similar amount (or perhaps more) are optimized for self-defense/tactical use and, also, are marketed as such. Again, the lightweight bolt-action rifle intended for people that go hunting deer in mountains is going to have a markedly different advertising campaign from the lightweight semi-automatic rifle intended for self-protection in the home.

Further blurring the lines is the fact that the addition or subtraction of a few accessories can convert a semiautomatic rifle from one purpose to another. For example, let's say I have an AR-15 chambered in .223. And let's say that I normally keep it set up for self-defense. I keep it loaded with tactical ammunition, I have a red-dot sight on top, and I have a powerful flashlight attached under the barrel.

Now I'm going varmint hunting out in my fields, or whatever. Okay, so I strip off the flashlight, swap the red-dot sight with a nice 3-9 power variable-zoom hunting scope, attach a bipod, and throw some hunting ammunition in a magazine. Now I've a setup I can use to very effectively shoot prairie dogs, coyotes, gophers, hares, etc. All I needed to do was invest in a second scope and a bipod.


Second example: Let's say I have an AR-15, but instead of the normal .223 Remington I have it chambered in .450 Bushmaster. Instead of a small fast bullet it shoots a big, slow one. It's much more powerful but the slowness of the bullet means it drops like a brick, limiting me to maybe 200 yards. A red-dot sight and a barrel-mounted flashlight makes it effective for self-defense OR hunting feral hogs, and replacing the red-dot sight with a 2-7x variable-zoom scope means I can use it as a close-to-medium-range deer gun.

The beauty of the AR-15 is that it is a 2-piece design. The upper part and lower part of the receiver easily come apart and can be swapped, so it is a popular option to purchase several uppers in different calibers and simply swap them as needed. The optics and accessories stay attached to the upper, so I could have both a .223 upper and a .450 upper and simply swap them in a few seconds as needed.

Since keeping a gun around for self-defense is an every day need but a hunting a gun is used only a few times a year, a multi-use gun like the AR-15 will be predominantly marketed for self-defense even if the manufacturer makes hunting or marksmen optimized rifles.