Because I'm really not much of a gun aficionado I'm speculating a little bit when I say this, but I'm sure there are a fairly small amount of rifles truly developed, and primarily meant for hunting animals that are not simultaneously just as effective for use against people, or don't have a military history like the 30-06. Perhaps elephant guns are an example?
Anyway, I do see that military weapons have developed over time, so that those from 100 years ago look different than those in use since WW2, but they are really not separated by much. The fact that people used to more often have hunting guns that resembled military rifles from pre-WW2 does not make the newer style of weapons into a more lethal category except that people's gun choices have increased based on an accumulation of technology over time, whereas most other new technology replaces the older. Wish I could buy a bew '57 Chevy, but I can't.
Mass shootings are a social problem (social phenomenon) that is occurring at a time when this large time-variety of guns are available, but the choices of some mass shooters for the newer rifles simply reflects the time in which the problem is occurring, a time where these is a contrast or variety of newer and older weapons. To understand what I'm saying, consider mass killings by vehicle, acknowledging of course that automobiles are not meant for killing and are not directly comparable to guns; I'm just using the comparison in terms of technology over time in relation to an emergent social phenomenon.
If there was such a huge variety of vintages of automobile readily available in society as thee are guns, the newest ones would have some obvious advantages, especially in terms of engine power and reliability, which would possibly make them the best choice for mass killers. If there were gradually more and more mass killers by vehicle and they chose the newest trucks for murder, only those with very reliable electronic fuel injection, would people think that the obvious choice to deal with the problem would be to outlaw fuel injection and make everyone go back to carburetor gasoline engines? Possible even ban diesel engines since those are all fuel injection based?
I hope my comparison is apt because I just can't see focusing much attention on AR-15s, especially when so many mass shootings have been carried out with handguns. The first mentally deranged mass shooter back in 1969 at the
Univ. of Texas had nothing like an AR.
Last edited by Michael on Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.