How the AR-15 Became the Symbol of the U.S. Right

• Republican representatives have introduced legislation to officially designate the AR-15 as America's "national gun."
• The AR-15 was designed in the later 1950s, with the U.S. military in mind, though it also became popular with law enforcement and civilians.
• A number of America's most notorious mass shootings have involved AR-15s, including the 2017 Las Vegas massacre and the 2022 Uvalde school shooting.
• One academic told Newsweek gun rights activists are so protective of the AR-15 partly because they fear if it is banned other firearms will follow. Others object to its "demonization" by Democrats.
• Conservatives have adopted the AR-15 as an identity marker to set themselves apart from liberals, with the gun increasingly displayed in ordinary family settings.

There aren't many days when Congressional legislation begins its life at Family Firearms, a small gun store in the southern Alabama town of Troy, but Tuesday, February 21, was an exception.

House Republican Barry Moore chose the venue, just up the street from the Salvation Army thrift store, to announce he was introducing a new bill to Congress, which would see the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle officially designated as "the National Gun of the United States."

Nor was Moore acting alone. Three of his GOP colleagues, representatives Lauren Boebert, Andrew Clyde and George Santos, agreed to co-sponsor the proposal.

Sonnie Parker, owner of Family Firearms, was ecstatic, telling Newsweek his team was "very excited" that the congressman had made the announcement in his store, and they "fully support" the proposal. Others, however, were sharply critical, with Thomas Whalen, a politics associate professor at Boston University, comparing the plan to designating "Ted Bundy as the official serial killer of the US," due to the AR-15's role in a number of notorious mass shootings.

The attempt to declare the AR-15 America's "national gun" is the latest example of the veneration of firearms veneration by a section of the U.S. right. Conservative groups now sell flags and T-shirts emblazoned with the rifle, often combined with the combative slogan "Come and Take It," whilst AR-15 pin badges have been worn by a number of Republican lawmakers in Congress. It's increasingly clear that the AR-15, like the Russian AK-47 among Third-World revolutionaries before it, has become more than just a gun. It's a political symbol. The question is, why?

History of the AR-15

The AR-15 was developed by ArmaLite in the late 1950s as an upgrade to the AR-10, a weapon designed a few years earlier by a team from the company led by the revered American firearms engineer Eugene Stoner.

Initially the weapon, designed for military use, had little commercial success, and in 1959 ArmaLite sold the AR-15 design to Colt's Manufacturing Company. The big breakthrough came in 1963 when a modified automatic version of the AR-15, which became known as the M-16, was adopted by the U.S. military, seeing extensive service during the Vietnam War.

Colt continued selling the semi-automatic AR-15, marketed for police and civilian use, though at first with limited success. A semi-automatic gun will, assuming it is stocked with ammunition, fire once each time the user pulls the trigger, in contrast to an automatic weapon, which can shoot continuously if the trigger is held down. Colt's patents for the firearm expired during the 1970s, resulting in a number of manufacturers making their own versions of the gun, which continued to be referred to as AR-15s in everyday language, or sometimes as AR-15-style rifles.

Chris Waltz, president of AR-15 Gun Owners of America, a voluntary association for AR-15 owners, told Newsweek the firearm is popular with civilians because it is simple, light and easy to modify. "It's accurate, lightweight and simple to use," he said.

"The part that appeals to many Americans about the AR-15 rifle is that it is very configurable. There are literally over a million different accessories and configurations for the AR-15 and its variants making it extremely appealing to own."

Waltz said the gun is used "responsibly by millions of Americans every day" for a range of activities, including "home and property protection, personal protection, sporting activities and hunting."

Professor Grant Reeher, an expert in gun policy at Syracuse University, expressed a similar view on the AR-15's appeal, calling the weapon "ergonomic, easy to maintain and customize, in recent years increasingly accurate, and fun to shoot."

Mass Shootings

Although used legally and safely by the vast majority of owners, the AR-15 has attracted notoriety because of its use in some of America's most devastating mass shootings.

Massacres carried out in part or whole with AR-15-style rifles include the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting and the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, in which 60 people were killed by 64-year-old Stephen Paddock.

More recently, in May 2022, 21 people were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, by an 18-year-old former student using an AR-15-style rifle.

Professor Gary Kleck, a criminology expert who teaches at Florida State University, told Newsweek these shootings have had little impact on the AR-15's popularity, at least among its owners. He said: "Their use in mass shootings is irrelevant to their popularity among gun owners, since the gun does not compel its owner to commit violent acts."

Reeher largely agreed, saying: "I think most gun owners do not engage in guilt by association when it comes to a type of firearm."

However, he added: "I do think there are some gun owners who have avoided purchasing, or have quietly sold, AR-15 platform rifles," due to their "association" with mass shootings.

Gun Control Battles

In 1994, President Clinton signed the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, more commonly known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, into law. Under its terms the manufacture of many semi-automatic guns, such as the AR-15, for civilian use was made illegal, until 2004 when the law expired due to its sunset provision.

According to Reeher this type of gun control legislation may have helped to politicize the AR-15, making it an emblem of both the gun rights, and broader American conservative, movements.

Discussing the AR-15's appeal on the right, he said: "In large part, I think it's because this particular rifle has become such a public target for Democrats and liberals regarding gun regulation and control.

"I have heard some gun owners say it's important for gun owners to have at least one of these rifles, just to make a statement. The rifle has become a symbol of the debate over gun control, and the political right is more associated with gun ownership and rights."

A similar view was expressed by Mark Olivia, managing director of public affairs at the National Shooting Sports Association, a trade association for gun manufacturers. He told Newsweek that gun control campaigners had worked to "demonize" the AR-15, turning it into "a target for gun control groups and anti-gun politicians."

Olivia added that the AR-15 specifically is so important, in part, because it has become "a symbol emblematic of the larger argument of Second Amendment rights in America."

Parker, the Family Firearms owner, agreed, linking the AR-15's popularity to "the anti-gun side of government constantly threatening to ban it, despite the fact they ignore criminals being able to obtain weapons whether they are banned or not."

Kleck argued that gun rights activists are so protective of the AR-15 because they fear that, if it is banned, many more types of firearm will follow.

He said: "In this light, proposals to ban AR-15s in particular, or the broader category of military-style semi-auto rifles, looks arbitrary to gun owners, since the arguments for banning AR-15s could just as easily be applied to all semi-auto rifles.

"Consequently, proposals for ban AR-15s serve, for gun owners, as symbols of a push for much broader bans when and if they become politically achievable."

A Conservative Emblem

Professor Carolyn Gallaher, an expert on paramilitary groups and the U.S. religious right at the American University, told Newsweek that guns have developed into a key identity marker for conservatives, distinguishing them from their liberal opponents.

Asked whether the proposal to designate the AR-15 as America's "national gun" could get wider support within the GOP, she replied: "Unfortunately, yes.

"Guns have become a symbol for Republicans. It's a symbolic way to differentiate themselves from Democrats.

"Just witness the plethora of Christmas cards from Republicans posing with their family members, including children, holding guns. It's become so normalized that they show pictures of their guns, not their pets."

She added: "Many companies are marketing AR-15s in softer, even 'family-friendly' ways. The Sportsman's Warehouse, for example, has a brand called Muddy Girl that comes in pink, aqua and purple."