The rifle type used in the deadly Bend shooting on Aug. 28 has enjoyed a popularity boom among millions of gun owners, while it is reviled by gun control advocates as an icon of mass murder.
Police say a gunman fired more than 100 shots at The Forum Shopping Center with an “AR-15 style” rifle, killing two men in the Safeway supermarket. Officers found the shooter dead at the back of the store from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, next to his rifle and a shotgun.
The police description of the rifle as AR-15 “style” hints at the rifle’s convoluted history.
Touted for its modern, military look, the AR-15 design is actually 66 years old. It inspired the design of the M-16 rifle used since the Vietnam War, but the AR-15 itself is very rarely used by U.S. Armed Forces.
The AR-15 has been called “America’s Rifle” by the National Rifle Association. It’s been dubbed “Baby Killer” by gun control advocates for its use in mass murders of elementary school children in Connecticut and Texas.
The total number of “AR-15 style” rifles in the United States is difficult to tabulate.
An estimate of 20 million is on the website of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms and ammunition industry trade group. It refers to the AR-15 variants as a “modern sports shooting rifle.”
“They’re popular for home defense, recreational target shooting and hunting,” the foundation website says.
Colt firearms bought the patents for the AR-15 in 1959 from ArmaLite — the “AR” stands for “ArmaLite Rifle.”
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