PA Bill Number: HB829
Title: In preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Description: An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Last Action: Signed in House
Last Action Date: Jul 3, 2024
THE GUN - AR 15 :: 06/01/2018
I’D FORGOTTEN WHAT IT FELT AND sounded like: a lightweight, gas-operated, semiautomatic rifle with a 30-round magazine pressed into my shoulder, staring through iron sites adjusted for wind and range, the sharp spats rather than booms when I squeezed the trigger — spat, spat, spat, spat — the subdued recoil allowing me almost effortlessly to keep the sight picture from one round to the next. In less than 60 seconds and 40 years after last picking up a similar weapon — a Colt-made M-16 rifle of the same basic design — I could fire 25 rounds at 10 targets, each spaced several feet apart, some closer or farther and none more than 30 yards from me, and hit all of them repeatedly.
Smith & Wesson M&P-15: An AR-15 variant, the weapon tested by Florida Weekly. SMITH & WESSON / COURTESY PHOTO
Roughly five seconds after that, I could have a second magazine, this one with 35 rounds in a 40-round capacity to ease pressure on the spring, locked into my weapon with a round loaded, ready to fire.
Almost anyone could.
“It’s part of why these are popular with recreational shooters — you can shoot with great accuracy at 25 to 50 yards,” said Peter Lucier, a combat veteran of the Marine Corps and a Marine Corps Combat Marksmanship Coach who has written about AR-15s in the The Washington Post and The Daily Beast, among other publications.
Eugene Stoner created the first lightweight, gas-operated, semi-automatic AR-15 or ArmaLite Rifle for that company in the 1950s. It was simple to operate, but complex in engineering and design. Colt bought the design for $75,000 and a future share of profits, in 1959. By the mid-1960s, the U.S. military had adopted it for use in Vietnam. TEKMAT / COURTESY ILLUSTRATION
“AR” is an acronym for the ArmaLite Rifle first developed in 1956, and sold to Colt three years later. The term “AR-15” is now used generically to describe a broad family of military-style, gas-operated, semiautomatic rifles marketed by domestic and international gun makers.
“Most indoor ranges are 25 yards. A lot of people can look really good (shooting there). When I trained with these, we shot at 500 yards, 20 times the distance. But I’d be surprised if the engagements in schools, for example, are happening at more than 25 yards. Not even that.”
Given the now-significant role AR-15 rifles play in American culture, Florida Weekly decided to take a look at the weapon — not as the political icon it has become, but as an object most Americans have heard described, many Americans own or use in sport, and that some Americans in civilian life have been killed or injured by.
AR-15s made by different manufacturers, in prices from about $500 to about $2000, fill the walls at Shoot Straight, a gun shop with locations in Fort Myers, West Palm Beach and six other Florida cities. A clerk said these weapons are delivered on a Wednesday, and sometimes the wall is almost empty by the following Wednesday. FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO
With my fellow reporter and son, Evan Williams, I bought one of the many versions now offered by American and other gunmakers, the popular Smith & Wesson M&P-15 (M&P is an acronym for Military & Police, for whom Smith & Wesson designed it originally), at a gun store called Shoot Straight, in Fort Myers.
The company operates stores in eight Florida locations, including Orlando, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Clearwater, Tampa, Lakeland and Sarasota.
With the purchase we included two extra magazines, one 30-round mag and one 40-round mag for $15 and $20, respectively; a cleaning kit for less than $15; and 120 rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition, the military version of the .223 caliber round, at about $15 for each 30-round box. The rifle itself was on sale for less than $600. Total cost: $702.
LUCIER
To buy the weapon, I gave one of the clerks my driver’s license, filled out a brief form that asked if I was a felon, wanted by law enforcement, or an American, and waited three days.
Then I went back and picked up the gun and accessories.
Once, I could put rounds with such a weapon through a dinner plate-sized target 500 yards away, 300 yards away or 200 yards away from various shooting positions about 10 times out of 10 on a clear day with no wind.
I wasn’t being shot at, I wasn’t tired, I wasn’t hunting and I certainly wasn’t in a public school, a church, a business, a theater or at a concert. I was on a military shooting range.
But that is not how the weapon has become prominently known in American culture.
Running the numbers
DON’T CALL AR-15S “ASSAULT WEAPONS,” A political term used to vilify the rifle and other semiautomatic weapons, says the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Instead, the gun industry calls them “modern sporting rifles.”
in Colt Sporter ad published 1964. COURTESY PHOTO
While they have made headlines for their role in mass shootings — since 2007, 220 people have been killed in mass shootings involving AR-15s, according to data compiled by the Stanford Geospatial Center and Stanford Libraries and USA Today — they’re widely used for almost anything but assaulting people. Owners buy them as collectors’ items or for self-defense, hunting, target practice and shooting competitions.
Gun enthusiasts attest to their ease of use, military and historical pedigree, and especially their almost Lego-like modularity — they can be tricked out with an array of scopes, lights and grips, and reconfigured to shoot many types of ammunition in quantities generally ranging from 10 to 100 bullets.
The rounds used in an AR-15 style gun include most commonly the .223, but it can be built to fire a .22, .308, 6.8 SPC, and .450 Bushmaster, among others. There are even shotgun versions, the NSSF says. The industry association calls AR-15s “among the most popular firearms being sold.”
“When you’re shooting at people, you want to put a lot of shots, generally accurate, in the area of the people, so you can then close with them and kill them.” — Peter Lucier, a combat veteran of the Marine Corps and a Marine Corps Combat Marksmanship Coach
It is not known how many Americans own AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles because there are no public records that track that information. Firearm industry estimates vary from 8 million to 15 million.
Guns have been a booming business in the U.S. for more than a decade, the most recent ATF figures show. U.S. manufacturers made 3.2 million firearms in 2005. In 2015, they made 9.4 million; 3.7 million alone were rifles.
In all, from 2005 to 2015, 70.8 million guns were made; 26.8 million were rifles.
The number of NICS firearm background checks used to determine eligible gun buyers (though it does not show how many ended up purchasing a gun) also more than doubled from 11.2 million in 2007 to 25.2 million in 2017.
AR-15s have repeatedly proven themselves devastating assault weapons in mass shootings, but they are used relatively rarely in homicides. The most recent FBI data shows that handguns were used in 7,105 homicides in 2016 while rifles were used in 258.
“A lot of media are very uneducated about what these firearms (AR-15s) actually are, how they function, what role they play, and what they’re used for.” — Amy Hunter, spokesperson for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action in Fairfax, Va.
Amy Hunter, a spokesperson for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action in Fairfax, Va., said the term “assault weapon” is misleading.
“A lot of media are very uneducated about what these firearms (AR-15s) actually are, how they function, what role they play and what they’re used for,” she said. “They’ve demonized these firearms, which are functionally just rifles that have added cosmetic components.”
Hannah Shearer, a staff attorney at San Francisco, Calif.-based Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates banning assault weapons, pointed out that the core pieces of the AR-15 are the same as an M-16.
“Overall, these are semiautomatic long guns that are modeled after military weapons and they’re more deadly than other types of weapons,” she said. “And when they’re used in mass shootings it results in more people being shot, and more people being killed.”
Cpl. Peter Lucier in Afghanistan. He also served as a Marine Corps Combat Marksmanship Coach. COURTESY PHOTO
Mr. Lucier, recalling his extensive experience as a Marine with M-16s and M-4s, offered roughly the same opinion.
Asked by Florida Weekly to name any significant differences between a weapon such as the Smith & Wesson M&P-15, one of many versions of the weapon on the market, and the rifles he used in the Marine Corps, he didn’t.
“They’re not significantly different,” he said. “These are the same weapons. The selector switch, and having the option (on military rifles) to shoot full auto is not a significant distinction. We don’t shoot on full auto. If we have to go full auto we use heavier machine guns usually operated by a team of two or three. So it’s a distinction without a difference.”
That distinction is immediately noticeable in civilian versions of the military M-16 or newer M-4. The selector switch manipulated instantly with the thumb of the shooter offers two options only: “safe” and “semi.” There is no “auto.”
Law enforcement SWAT teams use AR-15-type weapons in training and practice, as this photo of Lee County Sheriffs deputies suggests. The photo hangs on a corridor wall in the Sheriff’s Office headquarters in Fort Myers with the caption “COPS.” Sheriffs’ deputies would not comment on the model or type of weapons they use. COURTESY PHOTO
Unless altered, therefore, it is a semiautomatic rifle, able to fire one round with each pull of the trigger. The military counterparts can fire either continuously on “auto” with a single compression of the trigger — in which case barrels can overheat, ammunition will rapidly deplete and accuracy will become nominal — or commonly in three-round bursts.
How they work
“THE SEMIAUTOMATIC AR-15 is built for the small-caliber, high-velocity concept,” Mr. Lucier said.
“When you’re shooting at people, you want to put a lot of shots, generally accurate, in the area of the people, so you can then close with them and kill them.”
That’s easier to do with a lightweight, smaller-caliber weapon using high velocity rounds.
“The M-14 (used early in the Vietnam War) shot the equivalent of a .308 Winchester — it was a 7.62 mm round. The .223 or 5.56 used by the military now is much more manageable.
“I can carry a lot more rounds with the .223, with a loaded 30-round magazine that weighs about a pound and a half. A 20-round mag with a .308 will weigh more than twice that. It can be a big factor in war.”
Or in mass shootings.
“I can easily carry 30, 60, 90, 120 rounds on my person, which ups the death counts in these mass shootings. And because that recoil is much more manageable, I can continue firing accurately, especially at closer ranges. With the M-14 or say the .30-30 Winchester a lot of people use to hunt deer, there’s a lot of recoil, and it’s harder to shoot fast.”
ArmaLite, the company that originally made these weapons 60 years ago in California, designed them for soldiers using a patented gas-operating system from engineer and inventor Eugene Stoner, still in use today.
The shooter loads the first round into the chamber by pulling back the “charger handle” and releasing it. In a process almost instantaneous, gas from every fired round is blown back through a tube, slapping the “bolt carrier group” backward to bounce off a buffer. The now-spent casing is ejected while the bolt carrier group snaps forward, loading the next round.
Some history
THE U.S. MILITARY ACQUIRED THE DESIGN in the early 1960s, called it the M-16, and deployed it in Vietnam, where it replaced the M-14 as a standard-issue rifle.
The weapons are lightweight and have little recoil, characteristics that make them popular and enhance their accuracy and ease of use by soldiers and civilians alike.
In 1959, Colt bought the rights to the AR-15 design.
During the next decade the company advertised a new AR-15 Sporter for “hunters, campers and collectors.”
The weapon wasn’t particularly popular, however, until 1989, when a shooter killed five children and wounded 32 others in an elementary school in Stockton, Calif., with an AK-47 — the gas-operated assault rifle once used against Americans by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. Following a robust advertising campaign by marketers, sales shot up.
Starting in 1994, new federal rules signed by President Bill Clinton made selling “assault weapons” including the AR-15, illegal. Such weapons were defined as semiautomatic with detachable magazines and any two of five characteristics: telescoping or folding stocks, pistol grips, bayonet mounts, flash suppressors or grenade launchers.
But one decade later, in 2004 during the administration of President George W. Bush, the ban expired and Congress chose not to renew it. Demand for the gun surged with advertising, and most gun manufacturers developed their own versions of the AR-15.
Since then, seven states — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, along with the District of Columbia — have passed laws banning assault weapons, the Giffords Center says. Those weapons are now defined in part by generic features that make them easier to fire, and by their ability to hold high-capacity magazines.
The seven states, with Colorado, have also enacted bans on high-capacity magazines. Some states define “highcapacity” as holding more than 10 rounds; others as more than 15.
Improvements and aficionados
AS THE MILITARY IMPROVED DESIGN ELEments of its guns over the years, some made their way into the civilian market. For instance, customers have a choice between AR-15s that utilize Mr. Stoner’s original operating system or a “gas piston” system used in AK-47s and designed to be more reliable in some conditions such as the dusty Middle East, said Matt Mink, manager at Naples Guns & Ammo.
Mr. Mink says the AR-15s’ popularity comes in part from its patriotic roots defending our country and in part because it simply “looks cool.”
“But the reason it’s so great is it’s light, it’s reliable, the recoil is moderate and you can build it up any way you want,” he said.
Charlotte County resident Leonard Dias, 49, said he owns about 20 AR-15s, part of a comprehensive collection of firearms that includes AK-47s, TEC-9s, shotguns and his favorite, a .30-30 Winchester rifle. He bought his first AR-15 for home defense, and finds it to be “a great rush” to shoot for casual target practice.
“I like the AR because as fast as you press that trigger the bullets will come out,” he said. “You could literally, if you shoot on a tree, you could knock the tree down. I just like the firepower that it has.”
Mostly, though, he has a passion for collecting all kinds of things, a habit he has extended to baseball cards, stamps and coins. Hailing from Boston, Mr. Dias didn’t get into guns until after he moved to Florida in the mid-1980s and friends introduced him to the hobby.
He funds his collections through a successful disaster cleanup and restoration business — anything from water damage to crime scenes. Noting that his business is “recession proof,” Mr. Dias said he’s not much interested in politics and doesn’t follow the debate about gun control.
He enjoys buying or upgrading his AR-15s with all the bells and whistles. One has a grenade launcher attached, another a high-powered “sniper” scope that would allow him to take long-range shots accurately. But he doesn’t use his guns for hunting.
“I don’t think I could shoot an animal,” Mr. Dias said, unless it was attacking him. “I just couldn’t shoot something that’s just standing there.”
Punta Gorda resident Matt Uebelacker Jr., 34, is a gun collector and certified NRA instructor. Many guns in the civilian marketplace are high-powered, semiautomatic rifles that allow people to shoot bullets relatively quickly, he points out, not just ARs.
“There are other firearms out there that have similar characteristics as an AR-15 but they don’t get talked about as much because they’re not as flashy,” he said.
But the AR-15 platform has a style and versatility that is appealing to many gun owners. He is adept at assembling AR-15s in their many configurations depending on personal preference and use.
“Do you want to shoot up close?” Mr. Uebelacker asks. “Do you want to shoot longer distances? Are you trying to shoot with a scope or iron sites? It kind of comes down to, what do you want to do for fun? Or is there a purpose?” such as home defense.
Mr. Uebelacker enjoys shooting many types of guns, including ARs.
“I enjoy the history behind them,” he said. “I like what they’re about, and it’s our right to defend ourselves as Americans if need be, but that’s not the only reason to have firearms.”
Mark Oliva, a spokesperson for NSSF who lives in Virginia, has an AR-15 configured for hunting. Mr. Oliva scheduled an interview with Florida Weekly for Friday, May 18. But that morning he declined, per NSSF’s policy, as news unfolded of a mass shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, where the murderer used a Remington 870 pump shotgun and a .38 pistol, according to news reports.
“Out of respect for the families we’re going to decline to make any comments regarding firearms,” Mr. Oliva said.
Law enforcement officials have also proved laconic in discussing these weapons. Florida Weekly contacted sheriff’s offices in Palm Beach, Collier, Lee and Charlotte counties, and asked the Florida Sheriff’s Association for comments: How many AR-15 style weapons have they confiscated in the last two years? Does the existence of such weapons among civilians create extra work in training, or anxiety, for law enforcement personnel?
Only the Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded.
“From January 2015 thru present, we as an agency have had 4,420 guns pass through evidence,” wrote Sgt. Anita Iriarte. “This includes all firearms. Unfortunately we are unable to distinguish the make and model of the firearms.”
On the receiving end
WRITING IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY IN February, Dr. Heather Sher, a radiologist who treated victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, compared injuries from the gunman’s AR-15, firing .223 rounds with a muzzle velocity of about 3,200 feet per second, with wounds from handguns firing 9mm rounds at about 1,200 fps.
Bullets fired from a high-velocity rifle such as an AR-15 travel at almost three times the speed of a typical 9mm bullet, she pointed out. As a result, they cause far more damage to victims, especially when paired with a high-capacity magazine.
The 9mm bullet leaves a track through the body about the size of the bullet, she explained. A faster bullet does not cause it to pass through the body more cleanly, but just the opposite; the bullet damages the tissue around it, parting it “like waves of water displaced by (a) boat.
“This process is called cavitation; it leaves the displaced tissue damaged or killed. The high-velocity bullet causes a swath of tissue damage that extends several inches from its path. It does not have to actually hit an artery to damage it and cause catastrophic bleeding. Exit wounds can be the size of an orange.”
She compared the Parkland shooting to a shooting at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 2017, whose victims she also diagnosed. At the airport, the shooter used a 9mm semiautomatic handgun.
“The gunshot wounds were the same low-velocity handgun injuries that I diagnose every day; only their rapid succession set them apart,” she wrote. “And all six of the victims who arrived at the hospital that day survived.”
At Parkland, she wrote, “Most of the victims died on the spot; they had no fighting chance at life.”
Another Southeast Florida trauma surgeon and Iraq War veteran, Dr. Robert Borrego, called Dr. Sher’s assessment of AR-15 and high-velocity gun injuries in The Atlantic Monthly “really accurate.”
“What happens is they impart so much energy when they go through the tissues that you get a blast effect and a pressure wave,” he said.
Handgun wounds are the most common type of firearms injury treated at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where Dr. Borrego is medical director of the trauma program.
He estimates that he has seen over the past 10 years at St. Mary’s “at least 25 to 50 victims with gunshot wounds that have been consistent with a high-velocity weapon.”
None were from mass shootings.
“The percentage of patients that will die or lose a limb in my experience has been higher in patients that have wounds from AR-15-type weapons rather than handgun wounds,” he said. “So they are riskier and more lethal. They cause more damage and the outcome is not as good.”
In Iraq, he served with an Army Reserve surgical team during the first six months of the war in 2003, and witnessed injuries to civilians and soldiers, including those who had been shot by M-16 rifles.
“The M-16 is built to shoot more rounds in a short period of time, (but) the M-16 wounds are pretty much the same as the AR-15 wounds. Except there may be more, in a military scenario.”
With a typical handgun injury, Dr. Borrego said that damaged organs such as the liver might often be saved with surgery, while that is not usually the case with a high-velocity rifle wound.
“With an AR-15 the blast effect is so damaging that (if) the liver gets pulverized, most of those patients don’t do well,” he said. “The same thing for any solid organs in the abdomen. Like if it hits a kidney or a spleen — with a high-velocity rifle the organ gets pulverized and there’s not much to save.” ¦
Common terms
>> AR-15: The specific model designation of a Colt-made rifle, the term “AR-15” is also now generic, describing any of a family of military-style, lightweight, gas operated, semiautomatic rifles originally designed for military use by the ArmaLite company. AR-15s use high-capacity magazines carrying 10 to 100 rounds, commonly of high-velocity ammunition in the synonymous .223 caliber or 5.56 mm bullet.
>> Assault Rifle: Designed for military use.
>> Modern Sporting Rifle: A gun-industry term used to describe assault rifles sold to civilians for self-defense, hunting, target shooting, competition shooting or collecting.
>> M-16, M-4: Military versions of the AR-15 with selector switches allowing “safe,” “semi,” and “auto” or “burst” for automatic fire.
>> Selector switch: A small switch on the rifle’s receiver allowing a shooter to switch from “safe” (the rifle won’t shoot) to “semi,” or semiautomatic fire in the AR-15 — pulling the trigger once to fire one round, repeatedly without reloading.
>> Magazine: A spring-loaded device that stores and feeds cartridges into the weapon. For AR-15s, magazine capacities range from 10 to 100 cartridges. The most common magazines carry 30 cartridges.
>> High-capacity magazine: Any magazine holding at least 10 cartridges, but sometimes defined as 15-round magazines, or those with greater capacity.
>> Muzzle: The open end of the barrel.
>> Bore: The inside of the barrel.
>> Cartridge: Includes the case, sometimes called the shell-casing, with the primer, gunpowder, and bullet itself.
>> Caliber: The diameter of the rifle’s bore, or the bullet itself. In a .223 caliber, the internal diameter of the gun barrel or bore would be .223 inches, or measured in millimeters, 5.56 millimeters.
>> AR-15 manufacturers: There are many. Some names include Barrett, Bushmaster, Colt, Daniel Defense, Heckler & Koch, Mossberg, Patriot Ordnance Factory, Remington, Ruger, Savage Arms, SIG Sauer, Smith & Wesson, Stag Arms and Wilson. Each company has a unique model designation.
>> Smith & Wesson M&P-15: An AR-15 variant, the weapon tested by Florida Weekly. Weight: 6.74 pounds unloaded. Cartridge: 5.56 mm or .223 caliber with a muzzle velocity of about 3,200 feet per second. Magazines: sold with one 30-round magazine; smaller or larger-capacity magazines available. Used by the Internal Revenue Service and a few city, county or state law enforcement agencies. The M&P-15 (for “Military & Police”) has also been used in at least three mass shootings: an Aurora, Colo. movie theater in 2012 (12 dead, 70 wounded); a San Bernadino, Cal. shooting in 2015 (14 killed); at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Feb. 14 (17 killed, 17 wounded).
Approximate muzzle velocities of rounds in feet per second:
>> .22 long rifle, 1,400
>> .30-.30 Winchester, 2,200
>> .308 Winchester or 7.62 mm, 2,800
>> .30-06 Springfield, 2,900
>> 9mm pistol round, 1,200
>> M1 Garand of World War 2, .30 cal., about 2,900
>> M1 Carbine of World War 2, .30 cal., about 2,000
>> .223 cal. or 5.56 mm, about 3,200
Video Player
