Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspectin Saturday’s shooting, was registered as a Republican voter, according to Pennsylvania records.
Already the republicans are dismissing his voter registration as meaningless. Here comes the “mental illness” angle.
Edit: apparently it’s not uncommon to register with the party you oppose in PA. This is going to be a fun ride.
Funny how he chose an AR type, too.
What’s an AR type?
Armalite Rifle, Armalite is still a maker of military rifles. The AR-15 is a military rifle that was pitched to the military, then re-designated the M-16 by the military when it was adopted. The civilian version retained the -15, and is incredibly popular with gun owners because of the number of components made for it making it very customizable. It is also the one most often referred to as an “assault rifle”, though that isn’t what “AR” stands for.
So to sum up, the “AR type” means that it’s likely a variant of the -15.
“AR” refers to a pattern of rifle. Any manufacturer can produce complete rifles or various components and accessories that fit the AR pattern. Those components are interchangeable. This allows you to customize your rifle to your current and future needs simply by swapping parts, rather than needing a gunsmith to machine and fit them.
A gun that’s more accurate and can shoot longer distances.
When bullet goes faster, it is more accurate and deals more damage. In the 90s, the AR-15 was banned but today its allowed and has been the gun of choice in pretty much every mass shooting of the last decade.
Than?
Go on, you started out so strong.
It IS more accurate and shoots faster than a gun that’s less accurate and shoots slower.
Beyond that, you haven’t said anything about it, and you’ve not only just clearly shown you can’t be objective when talking about them, you’ve given just… So much bullshit and called it “information”
Bullets going faster doesn’t mean more damage, or more accuracy. It can mean more penetration into things, but that’s not a given.
It has never been banned in any meaningful way country-wide
It has been the front and center firearm of every shooters arsenal on the news whether it was used in the shooting or not, specifically because it cosmetically looks like a military rifle. In fact the most common used things aren’t even rifles, but handguns.
Functionally it’s no different than several other firearms, some of which even shoot the exact same round, but nobody focuses on those because they look like a hunting rifle.
This country needs mountains of reform, including tons of changes to gun control, but what you are doing is not helping that goal in any way.
Be better.
Are you purposefully being a dipshit or are you actually this ignorant?
Today’s AR-15 is more accurate, can shoot faster, has faster bullets and more damage than the Hi-Point 995 Carbine that the Columbine Shooters used.
Or do you deny the shift in tactics between 90s mass shootings and today’s mass shootings? Or are you so ignorant that you don’t even know the difference between these guns?
Do you expect me to talk elementary knowledge about guns and make huge posts discussing the history of mass shootings every time I make a post? Or are you really so ignorant about history you can’t figure out what I’m talking about? I’m sorry that I assumed you were a knowledgeable gun owner and/or enthusiast who could figure this out on your own.
“these guns that are different than a completely different kind of gun that nobody brought up before this particular comment are completely different!”
Your grasp of the obvious amazes me.
Do you always resort to ad-hominem when called out for thoughtless comments?
It’s still not a good look, dear.
You’re talking about the fucking 1990s style Assault Weapons Ban.
And suddenly its unfair for me to bring up mass shootings that took place during that ban, and compare them to the AR-15 (aka: how mass shootings happen today).
Got it. You’re a dipshit who was hoping that I was some kind of ignorant dumbass. You guessed wrong. Learn history next time before you challenge random people online.
You try to say here you shouldn’t need to talk about specifics “because we all know…” but in other comments you backpedal and say you’re dumbing it down for others.
So which is it?
I think you just hit “reply” before your brain caught up with your fingers and heart.
Given your demeanor, I’d say you still have awhile to go before you exit “childhood” regardless of what your ID says. Keep going with the baseless personal attacks, surely you’re one more comment away from changing my mind?
Have a good one I guess. Keep being angry and responding to everyone calling you out, it’s going well for everyone involved.
That’s a lot of words for “I’m sorry I was too ignorant to think of AR-15 vs Hi-Point 995 Carbine despite it being the obvious fucking example” and “I don’t have a reasonable argument to talk about 90s gun control vs today’s regime”.
Go complain to someone else and your welcome for the education. If you have a real discussion argument to continue, feel free to ping me. But its blatantly obvious that you have nothing to go on with regards to how bullets work or why the AR15 is a problem in today’s society.
It also has a shoulder thing that goes up, right? Your ignorance is on full display here.
Don’t answer questions you don’t know the answer to.
I don’t need to use technical terms like .776 rounds or rimfire to prove I’m a knowledgeable gun owner.
When the other guy doesn’t know what AR means, I must bring down my language and remove technicalities. What I said earlier is the gist of the argument, we all expect the shooter to have some variant of AR-15 given the range and number of shots taken.
The important tidbit, politically speaking, is that this gun was literally illegal to own in my childhood. Do you disagree with me on that?
To prove you’re a knowledgeable gun owner you should probably refrain from framing the AR-15 as a good long range weapon. It’s passable, but not what one would pick for a long range shot.
Funny how? ARs are the most common and versatile rifle in the country. How is it any surprise that’s what he was using? Any gun owner in the US will likely have at least one AR.
Funny that so many conservatives love the AR and one was used to shoot at their President. Maybe irony would be a better choice of words. Not sure where you get “any gun owner…at least one…” I know plenty who have zero and no need of such a tacticool fashion accessory.
I mean, sure? But it’s not just conservatives who own ARs. Look at leftist gun community / subreddit posts, literally everyone likes ARs, not just conservatives. Hell I’m a lefty with an AR and I have lefty friends with ARs. It’s not that far fetched of an idea dude.