“More than 4 million rifles were produced in 2016, up from 1.8 million in 2010. The National Rifle Association has estimated that 25 percent of all rifles produced in the United States are AR-15s or other semiautomatic styles, while other gun groups have said the ratio is closer to 50 percent.Feb 23, 2018”
That’s from a 10 second internet search. There sure are a a lot of mass muderers in this country. I wonder if these people practice being ignorant or if it comes naturally.
My dad, four years before he passed on at age 84...had some neighbor come over to the farm, and demonstrate the AR-15. Every rifle/shotgun in the house was produced between 1940 and 1960. After a 15-min demonstration...he went out the next week and bought one.
So, you go through the advantages...requiring a rifle for farm protection (typically coyotes, wild dogs, etc), and it meets your needs. For someone with arthritis, the handle makes it easy to pick up and handle. Using the clip to load your bullets made perfect sense.
My brother made a comment about a year or two after that....that within ten miles of the farm, there were probably 250 farms/residences...that now had a AR-15. My humble guess is that by 2030...near 90-percent of farmers in the US in rural areas....will have a minimum of one AR-15.