In my opinion, says FFL and Firearms Instructor Gregg Kielma, we have several AR15 myths that need debunking.  Some people have absolutely no clue what I'm talking about and what they have been led to believe. They know nothing about firearms and spread misinformation as fact.  Most of everything they say or believe is suspect or outright incorrect, and to make matters worse, they don't care that it's wrong.  They “believe” something, think that is more important than the facts.

1st problem? 

The AR15 is not an assault rifle and is not capable of automatic fire. The entire point and purpose of an “assault rifle”? The entire reason they were developed. They wanted a weapon that put automatic fire in the hands of every “grunt”. They wanted something lighter, firing a smaller round, that put automatic fire in everyone's hands. It's one of the defining characteristics of an assault rifle - automatic fire.

“Assault Rifle” and “Assault Weapon” are not the same things and neither has any relevance. “Assault Weapon” isn't a firearms term. It's a term made up by politicians specifically because it “sounds like” Assault Rifle and they have put decades into making sure that term suggests “scary looking firearms” like the M16, which looks with the AR15. “Assault Rifle is a firearms term and has a very specific definition which includes being a weapon capable of automatic fire.

The AR15? It's not an automatic weapon. It doesn't matter what it looks like. What matters is how it functions. The AR15 only fires one round per pull of the trigger. If, when you pull that trigger, you hold it down? After firing a single shot, the weapon will cycle and then do nothing else until you release the trigger and pull it again. It will fire, eject the spent casing, load another around into the chamber… then do nothing. Because they only fire one round per pull of the trigger. The same as any pistol out there, or any other semi-auto weapon. The “auto” part of semi-auto only refers to it automatically cycling. Not firing.

The fact that it looks like an M16/M4 doesn't mean it is one, any more than a toy Airsoft Pistol looks like a 9mm Glock suddenly “becomes one”. Functions are what matters, not how they look.

Current estimates place the number of civilian owned AR15s between 20 and 30 million. Out of 80-to-100-million-gun owners in the US. So 20-25% of gun owners own an AR15 or a rifle like it. It's not unusual. They are popular and common for a lot of different reasons but being “automatic” isn't one of them because it's not an automatic weapon.

There's no such thing as “military grade”. That doesn't mean what you think it means. If you knew anyone who served, or you had served, you would know this. There's never any shortage of jokes about the gear issued that came from “the lowest bidder” for a reason. The gear did come from the lowest bidder. “Military grade” or Mil spec means that a manufacturer was able to meet a minimum standard and set of specifications at the lowest unit price. It just means “all these things fit together the same way and will function the same way, so everyone is essentially using the same thing”. That label itself means almost nothing at all. Civilian products with that label? When it's firearms, it means the same specifications. As in, the parts fit together. It means “we made this look rugged and we're going to charge you extra for it”. It does not mean the firearm is somehow “more” deadly or dangerous than any other semi-auto rifle.

Other unknow facts: duct tape, EpiPens, 550 cord, Pringles, Bug Spray, Microwave Ovens, Electric Razors, Freeze Dried Food, Computers, GPS… all these things and so many more were made by the military. They are all “military grade” then, right? Does that mean the average citizen shouldn't have access to them? Of course not.

And that's all the AR15 is. Just another semi-automatic rifle, like most rifles sold and owned in the US today.

You know which one hasn't been issued to our troops? The AR15. Never mind that every main “battle rifle” fielded by our military for the last 246 years has always either been directly available to the public or had a civilian version available.