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How Walmart Helped Make Newtown Shooter's AR-15 the Most Popular Assault Weapon in America
The Nation ^ | December 17, 2012 | George Zornick

Posted on 12/17/2012 7:12:01 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

When Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14, inexplicably bent on ending as many lives as possible, he was carrying a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle and several high-capacity magazines. Sadly, this isn’t the first time the country has had to deal with the aftermath of a horrific shooting spree, nor is it the first time we’ve encountered an AR-15 in this context: only days earlier, it was the weapon of choice for a shooting at an Oregon mall that killed two people. Five months earlier, it was used by James Holmes in an attack that wounded fifty-eight people and killed twelve in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater. And several years before that, a man and his teenage accomplice used a Bushmaster AR-15 to terrorize the Washington, DC, area with a series of random shootings.

Although it is not yet clear where the Bushmaster AR-15 used by Lanza (and registered to his mother) was purchased, the model is familiar to many Walmart shoppers. It’s on sale at about 1,700 Walmart stores nationwide, though the retail chain pulled the weapon from its website early this afternoon. While last week’s deadly rampage in Connecticut has finally and unmistakably highlighted the madness of making these weapons so readily available, it’s a concern many people with a Walmart in their community have been trying to address for much longer.

Earlier this year, the Rev. Greg Brown had a troubling conversation with two members of his youth group from the northwest side of South Bend, Indiana...

(Excerpt) Read more at thenation.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; georgezornick; guncontrol; sandyhook; walmart
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Walmart has already pulled the AR's from their online website.
41 posted on 12/17/2012 7:54:13 PM PST by Theoria (Romney is a Pyrrhic victory.)
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To: doorgunner69

Think Progress writer and Soros surrogate George Zornick


42 posted on 12/17/2012 7:55:03 PM PST by kcvl
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The only ammo my Wal Mart leaves unlocked is pellets, b-b’s, airsoft, and paintballs. I flat don’t believe this story.


43 posted on 12/17/2012 7:55:47 PM PST by lacrew (Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)
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To: rockinqsranch

“...Correct me if I’m wrong, but was not the rifle left in the car? I thought he used only the pistols in his assault on the school children....”

You are correct. That’s what was reported. Also reported were two guys seen running into the woods near the school. Both incidents have helicopter live video footage somewhere. It was reported the two were apprehended by police but we never heard another word about them. I suspect they were the one’s using the .223 rifle(s). Almost makes ya wonder if this wasn’t some other kind of Fast & Furious deal. Instead of 200 dead Mexicans etc., it was our 20+ babies. The timing is just too perfect. IF this is true, they are one bunch of evil bunch of bassturds....just sayin’.


44 posted on 12/17/2012 7:57:08 PM PST by lgjhn23 (It's easy to be liberal when you're dumber than a box of rocks.)
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To: RPTMS

AR-15 is more akin to our M-4. Modified stock, shorter barrel, shortened recoil and adjustable features. There are other differences as well. I don’t know if it is the most popular weapon, I’m not a huge fan of the platform.


45 posted on 12/17/2012 7:58:12 PM PST by Theoria (Romney is a Pyrrhic victory.)
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To: Stymee

Bertha Lewis (born 1951) was the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Organizer of ACORN, which used to be a non-profit social justice organization with national headquarters in New York, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. United States until it disbanded in 2010.

Now the former head of ACORN, Bertha Lewis, has a new organization. It’s called the Black Institute

Bertha Lewis is the President & Founder of The Black Institute which she founded in 2010 to assist with holistically addressing systematic issues faced by Black people and of Color communities in the United States and throughout the Diaspora. Prior to her work with The Black Institute, Ms.Lewis was a life-long community activist and organizer.


46 posted on 12/17/2012 7:59:01 PM PST by kcvl
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To: Kickass Conservative
Would he feel better if the guy used Molotov Cocktails or would he just blame Big Oil?

a larger school killing in Michigan in the 1920's used explosives of some sort...maybe dynamite....all the kids are still dead, doesn't matter the weapon....all were killed by a murderer

47 posted on 12/17/2012 8:01:10 PM PST by terycarl
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Ban Schools and there will be no school shootings, failing students, school yard bullies or drop outs!


48 posted on 12/17/2012 8:03:57 PM PST by KingNo155
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To: AlmaKing

Some Walmarts do carry AR15s. One by me had several from different manufacturers - and they all sold out Black Friday.


49 posted on 12/17/2012 8:04:08 PM PST by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com)
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To: lacrew

I bought a BB gun for my nephew from the Daisy Gun Museum in North Arkansas and I had to submit a form with my driver’s license for background...A BB GUN!!!

http://www.daisymuseum.com/

I thought about buying one to keep the squirrels out of my plants but I can just see the police hauling me off for shooting a “gun” in MY YARD!


50 posted on 12/17/2012 8:05:25 PM PST by kcvl
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
he was carrying a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle

Showing my ignorance here.

Can somebody tell me exactly what features make this rifle an "assault" rifle? Does it have some magic mojo that an ordinary rifle doesn't have? If so, in what way does the mojo enhance the rifle's killing power?

51 posted on 12/17/2012 8:06:20 PM PST by upchuck (America's at an awkward stage. Too late to work within the system, too early to shoot the bastards.)
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To: upchuck
It actually varies. I'm no expert, but one of the main features was selective firing. Typical Assault rifles are used by a military force and have 'auto'. Ya gotta jump thru hoops and give up your first child to get a Class III license, etc.

Then, ya have the pure appearance factor. Some guns that could be fitted with a bayonet were considered a assault rifle...etc.

The AR-15 is not a assault rifle! You can add a large mag to it[illegal?], but it only fires 1 round per trigger pull. Secondly, the AR-15 mentioned, the 'AR' does not stand for Assault Rifle, but is short for ArmaLite Rifle, the company that designed the model.

There are tons of weapons experts[I'm not] here on FR that will add to everyones knowledge.

52 posted on 12/17/2012 8:18:25 PM PST by Theoria (Romney is a Pyrrhic victory.)
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To: Theoria

Thanks for that info.

So when the “assault weapon ban” expired in 2000 something, what types of weapons were available after that that were not available during the ban? Thanks.


53 posted on 12/17/2012 8:29:29 PM PST by upchuck (America's at an awkward stage. Too late to work within the system, too early to shoot the bastards.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
When Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14, inexplicably bent on ending as many lives as possible, he was carrying a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle and several high-capacity magazines.

Last I heard, he left the "high-powered assault rifle" in his car, and took a Glock and a SIG Sauer 9mm in with him.

Of course, at one point, it was his brother who was the shooter, not him. And they posted screenshots of the wrong Facebook profile.

You gotta love the mainstream media. They don't know what the hell it was, but they still want it banned.

54 posted on 12/17/2012 8:30:02 PM PST by RansomOttawa (tm)
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To: upchuck

“Semi-automatic AR-15s for sale to civilians are internally different from the full automatic M-16, although nearly identical in external appearance. The hammer and trigger mechanisms are of a different design. The bolt carrier and internal lower receiver of semi-automatic versions are milled differently, so that the firing mechanisms are not interchangeable. This was done to satisfy United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) requirements that civilian weapons may not be easily convertible to full-automatic.”

“There are no federal restrictions on the ownership of AR-15 rifles in the United States. During the period 1994–2004 variants with certain features such as collapsible stocks, flash suppressors, and bayonet lugs were prohibited for sales to civilians by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, with the included Assault Weapons Ban.”

“Included in this was a restriction on the pistol grip that protrudes beneath the stock, which was considered an accessory feature under the ban and was subject to restrictions. Some rifles were manufactured with a grip not described under the Ban installed in its place. Those AR-15s manufactured with those features, as well as the accompanying full capacity magazines, were stamped “Restricted Military/Government/Law Enforcement/Export Only”. The restrictions only applied to guns manufactured after the ban took effect. It was legal to own, sell, or buy any gun built before 1994. Hundreds of thousands of pre-ban ARs were sold during the ban as well as new guns redesigned to be legal.”


55 posted on 12/17/2012 8:30:29 PM PST by kcvl
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To: kcvl

Thank you. Sounds to me like the assault weapon ban had more to do with cosmetics rather than functionality.


56 posted on 12/17/2012 8:41:17 PM PST by upchuck (America's at an awkward stage. Too late to work within the system, too early to shoot the bastards.)
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To: Theoria
AR-15 is more akin to our M-4. Modified stock, shorter barrel, shortened recoil and adjustable features. There are other differences as well. I don’t know if it is the most popular weapon, I’m not a huge fan of the platform.

They still make AR-15's with full length 20" barrels. The platform served me well in the Marine Corps and I own two of them plus the AR shotgun - MKA 1919.

57 posted on 12/17/2012 8:53:15 PM PST by SVTCobra03 (You can never have enough friends, horsepower or ammunition.)
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To: upchuck; kcvl

An “assault rifle” is a battle rifle used in the military. It is capable of being a full auto machine gun, select fire of 3 rounds per trigger pull, or semi-automatic one pull one round like many shot guns. Libtards have hijacked that description to demonize what most handguns have that capability in the AR15.

Look at the Ruger Mini 14 Ranch Rifle, it is a semi-auto .223 that operates like the Bushmaster but looks like a normal rifle. If you want to shoot a wolf on the move after your sheep you’d want at least a semi-auto to hit it on the move.


58 posted on 12/17/2012 9:02:20 PM PST by Clint N. Suhks
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To: ILS21R
He must of put it back after he killed himself.

Would that make it the Vince Foster model AR?

59 posted on 12/17/2012 9:03:53 PM PST by RckyRaCoCo (I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery, IXNAY THE TSA!)
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To: faithhopecharity
Photobucket
60 posted on 12/17/2012 9:13:14 PM PST by baddog 219
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