HOW THE ARMALITE RIFLE MODEL 15 BECAME "AMERICA'S GUN"

In the late 1950s, Eugene Stoner, a World War II veteran working at Armalite, a small engineering firm in Hollywood, Floridainvented what he called the Armalite Rifle, Model 15.

The Armalite Rifle Model 15 - AR-15 - was different from other military rifles, which used big, heavy rounds. Designed to meet the Pentagon’s desire for a lightweight weapon to match Soviet rifles such as the AK-47, the AR-15 fired small bullets at very fast speeds. The higher velocity meant the tiny projectiles became unstable when they penetrated a human body, tumbling through flesh to create devastating wounds. In military terms, the effectiveness as a “wounding weapon” was more important. A dead soldier can be left behind on the battlefield; caring for a wounded soldier will take at least three others - the corpsman to save the wounded soldier and two litter carriers to carry him out of harm’s way - out of active combat. An internal Pentagon Report called it “An outstanding weapon with phenomenal lethality.”

But the real innovation was the addition of a small tube to redirect the gas from fired cartridges. This dampened recoil, making it easier to keep steady aim on a target. Anybody could fire it successfully.

The AR-15 wasn’t supposed to be a bestseller.

To most gunmakers a semiautomatic version of the rifle with its shrouded barrel, pistol grip and jutting ammunition magazine didn’t seem suited for hunting. It seemed like overkill for home defense. Gun executives doubted buyers would spend money on one.

The biggest trade shows banished the AR-15 to the back. The NRA was focused on promoting traditional rifles and handguns. Most gun owners also shunned the AR-15, dismissing it as a “black rifle” that broke from the typical wood-stocked long guns that were popular at the time.

Today, the AR-15 is the best-selling rifle in the United States. About 16 million people own at least one AR-15. Almost every major gunmaker now produces its own version of the weapon.

It is a stark symbol of the gun violence epidemic. Ten of the 17 deadliest U.S. mass shootings since 2012 have involved AR-15s.

The AR-15’s rise to dominance over the past 20 years was sparked by a dramatic reversal in strategy by the country’s biggest gun companies. The U.S. firearms industry came to embrace the gun’s political and cultural significance as a marketing advantage as it loked for new revenue.

The shift began after the 2004 expiration of the federal assault weapons ban that had blocked the sales of many semiautomatic rifles. A handful of manufacturers saw a chance to ride a post-9/11 surge in military glorification.

The AR-15 has become a consumer product like none other, a barometer of fear and a gauge of political identity AR-15 sales jump the most with each school shooting and contentious presidential campaign. They soared in the run-up to the election of Obama in 2008 and after the mass killings at Newtown, Conn., in 2012 and Parkland, Fla., in 2018.

Today, the industry estimates that at least 20 million AR-15s are stored and stashed across the country. More than 13.7 million have been manufactured since the Newtown massacre in late 2012, with those sales generating roughly $11 billion in revenue.

Smith & Wesson was the first to change, in 2005. It was a tough time for the firearms industry. Gun sales had been flat for several years. American gunmakers produced fewer pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns in 2005 than they had five years earlier.

Colt held exclusive rights to the semiautomatic, civilian version of the AR-15 until 1977, when the patent expired. Smith & Wesson’s first AR-15 was unveiled to the public in February 2006 at the industry’s marquee convention, the Shot Show in Las Vegas. It was called the M&P 15. The name indicated the gun was for professionals: “M” for military and “P” for police, but the company always had its eyes on the consumer market. Many gun company executives saw military and police sales as less profitable, due to lower prices and precise specifications. The M&P 15 was a hit. Smith & Wesson reported revenue from this line of tactical rifles more than quintupled in the gun’s first five full years on the market — from $12.8 million to $75.1 million.

Other big gunmakers soon followed Smith & Wesson’s lead. New Hampshire-based Sig Arms, later renamed Sig Sauer, announced to make an AR-15 in 2006, soon after the firm had been “about two seconds away from imploding.” The new rifle was credited with saving the company.

Wall Street noticed the sales blitz. A private equity firm called Cerberus Capital Management rolled up several gunmakers into a single conglomerate called Freedom Group. In late 2007, it purchased AR-15 maker DPMS, which was bringing in nearly $100 million in annual sales.

The AR-15 was suddenly being celebrated after years of being widely viewed with suspicion, Pressure was on in the industry to get on board with the AR-15 or keep quiet. In 2007, prominent hunting writer and TV host Jim Zumbo lost his jobs after calling for a ban on hunting with AR-15s. His fate became a watchword: Cross the AR-15 and you might get Zumboed.

In 2008, economic crisis and political upheaval bolstered the AR-15’s market. Obama’s victory created an opening for pro-gun groups to tease the potential for a new assault weapons ban, which industry executives credited with energizing AR-15 sales.

In 2008, when growing demand led U.S. gunmakers to increase production of all firearms by 15 percent, AR-15 production rose by 65 percent,. AR-15s were 10 percent of all guns made that year for the first time. Obama was mockingly crowned 2009’s “gun salesman of the year” by the gun-friendly news service Outdoor Wire.

That same year, in what many industry insiders saw as a watershed moment, Ruger entered the AR-15 market with its SR-556. Michael Fifer, the gunmaker’s CEO at the time, described to financial analysts in 2009 how Ruger brought in roughly $200 from each handgun, but each AR-15-style rifle brought in $1,000.

In late 2010, a study comparing two Smith & Wesson ads that had recently appeared in Guns & Ammo magazine was made. One featured a silver revolver and a black pistol, side by side against the light backdrop of a range target, under the block type “FINE-TUNED MACHINES.” The other ad showed what looked like a police SWAT team officer pointing an AR-15 at some unseen target in the distance. It read, “THE CHOSEN ONE.”

Consumers gave higher scores to the “FINE-TUNED MACHINES” ad, according to the report, which recommended future ads be tested “to maximize message, positive image, and consumer motivation.” Smith & Wesson chose “THE CHOSEN ONE.”

Bushmaster was running ads for its AR-15 with the line “CONSIDER YOUR MAN CARD REISSUED.” Daniel Defense posted social media ads showing its AR-15 with a helmeted soldier in a war zone under “USE WHAT THEY USE.”

The mass killing at Newtown focused attention like never before on the destructive power of the AR-15. Cerberus, the private equity giant, soon announced plans to sell off Freedom Group — the conglomerate it had assembled as a big bet on the AR-15’s success and the owner of the Bushmaster brand. One of its companies at the time owned Bushmaster, maker of the weapon used in the shooting. It would win a lawsuit filed by Newtown families alleging the gunmaker’s marketing was aimed at troubled young men.

Dick’s Sporting Goods immediately stopped selling AR-15s at its flagship stores during what the company called “this time of national mourning.”

NRA leaders feared there would be momentum for a ban, and they even huddled with companies and lobbyists to begin plotting strategy. Any notion that the tragedy in Newtown would compel the NRA to compromise evaporated a week later. Wayne LaPierre unveiled a school security plan that boiled down to his mantra of “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

The focus on banning the AR-15 only made the gun more popular with firearms enthusiasts, NRA leaders later said. David Keene, the NRA’s president at the time, said that was the moment gun rights became a top issue for Republicans. The AR-15 became a political symbol.

The NRA’s embrace of the AR-15 was also practical. NRA membership numbers were declining, but AR-15 owners remained loyal. Powell said the organization wanted the rifle to be viewed as “America’s gun.”

In December 2012, the same month as the Newtown shooting, monthly gun background checks hit what at the time was an all-time high of 2.8 million and stayed elevated for months. Stores were picked clean of their AR-15 inventory. Prices jumped.

While the government doesn’t break out AR-15 sales, the industry group NSSF estimated that at least 3.2 million AR-15s firearms were manuaxtured in 2012 and 2013 alone more than the entire previous decade.

In 2016, the U.S. gun industry reported it had produced more than 2 million AR-15s for the first time, 63 percent more than were manufactured the year before.

Helped by its line of M&P 15 rifles, Smith & Wesson saw its sales nearly double to a record $1.1 billion, according to financial filings. CEO Mark Smith described it as “the most successful year in the 169-year history of the company.”

The AR-15 had truly entered the mainstream.

You can support That’s Another Fine Mess with a paid subscription for only $7/month or $70/year, saving $14.

Comments are for paid subscribers.