Never a good idea to start with an easily refuted lie.

A guy I worked with bought an AR in about 1965 ? Anyway he put it up for sale after shooting it just a little. He was lefthanded and said it ejected the empties too close to his eyes. I only saw it once and at the time it was expensive. Don't know how much or to who he sold it.

jmr40 said:

When the 1994 AWB passed AR's were somewhat rare. IMO the 1994-2004 ban did a lot to make them as popular as they are today. I have no data to prove it, but wouldn't be surprised if there were more AR's sold between 1994 and 2004 than before 1994. I only knew 2-3 people who owned one prior to 1994. By 2004 I didn't know anyone who didn't own at least one.

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I agree 100% with this. In my 63 year old mind, the 1994 AWB made the AR what it is today.

I had wanted an AR ever since my brief four year stint in the Air Force after High School, but in the mid to late 1980s I was raising a young family and couldn't ever justify over a thousand dollars on a Colt AR15 just because I wanted one. Then the AWB came along and made the AR 'taboo' which drove up interest. And lots of boutique builders came into being building 'compliant' ARs with no threaded muzzles and no bayonet lugs on the front sight blocks. ARs then started becoming popular, and with all of the manufacturing competition, much cheaper.

Once the AWB sunsetted in 2004, it was Katie bar the doors for ARs, with all of these manufacturers now free to turn out all sorts of MSRs based on the AR platform. I finally got my AR after a whim purchase of an Anderson stripped lower at a gun show for $50, and a kit from Palmetto State Armory.

Also, somewhere after 2004 the shooting sports of Two Gun and Three Gun, coupled with the emerging tech platform YouTube, made the AR ever more popular, and further 'de-stigmatizing' the AR. New caliber options transformed the AR into a hunting platform, and innovations such as the low profile gas block, floating handguards, and Magpul furniture turned the AR from the iconic Vietnam era rifle silhouette into the modular platform it is today.

A lot of people never wanted an AR. Then Obama said you can’t have them…….

Never a good idea to start with an easily refuted lie.

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He is a former “executive” so he practiced the art of BS, just wasn’t as good at it as others…

That is why I bought mine . Obama was the best gun salesman in firearms history IMO .

Well I don't know about that I had a 222 Rem that dispatched a lot of raccoons opossums crows the occasional fox and other assorted varmints when the ar came out we got one and put the Rem away because a follow up shot was just a squeeze away and the 10 round mag was easy to load

By 1990 I was a hunter with a growing number of firearms for the purpose. I lived in NY State and pursued my pistol permit so I could hunt with a T/C Contender. The hassle of that process got me into reading up on firearms regulations.

I had no interest in ARs at the time, but was looking at them because I couldn’t find an accurate Mini-14. There was definitely a general knowledge of the platform … enough to generate the angst of the antis and precipitate the 1994 AWB. The ban gave me the push I needed and I promptly bought a pre-ban Colt Competition HBAR and a stack of 20-round Colt magazines.

I’m sure there are many variations of my story. To the OP’s point, the popularity of the AR platform goes back well over 20 years. And there is no doubt that the 1994 ban, which was intended to stem the tide, actually fanned the flames.

dodo bird said:

A lot of people never wanted an AR. Then Obama said you can’t have them…….

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Yep, that's what started it for the wife and I. In 2013;

Wife: "Do we have any ARs?"
Me: "No."
Wife: "Why not?"
Me: "Hadn't really thought about it."
Wife: "Don't you think we ought to since they want to ban them?"

The rest is history.

Yep.
A lot of the AR-15's popularity was driven by the "banned in Boston" or "Streisand Effect".
Folks wondered about the fuss and feathers and had to find out for themselves - maybe they were missing out on something.
I assembled my first AR-15 on the day of Obama's Immaculation... .

I had other semi auto rifles, M1 etc. I got my AK after little Bush got in office and the ban disappeared.
Then I got my AR when the orange spirochete got elected. He's the reason all the noobs have been buying, the noobs include liberals, LGBTQ and lots of independents.
Ever since then it's been parts and ammo, parts and ammo.

red rick said:

When you have gun owners and even hunters divided

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And they're gonna continue to use hunters against the mainstream of us because guns for hunting is the only use for firearms that they respect; every other purpose they couldn't care less.

But what those Fudd hunters dont realize is that after they're done banning the rest of our guns, they're gonna come after them too and make their life miserable.

Heir Kommt Die Sonne said:

But what those Fudd hunters dont realize is that after they're done banning the rest of our guns, they're gonna come after them too and make their life miserable.

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That is what I told my friend that I was arguing with . My AR is first and you are ok with that . Are you going to be ok when they ban your semi automatic shotgun and then your pump shotgun that you rabbit hunt with when a crazy person uses one in a school shooting ? He just can’t see that connection or why the 2nd amendment was written and put into our constitution .

Starting from the title of the thread:
I must agree. Starting with a lie is just bad practice. One looks and scammers and realize they start with a lie. Which indicates that all who lie are scammers in one degree or another.

However, the title and all the subsequent discussion miss the reality of gun controllers ALL recognize the obvious lie as axiomatic. Guns cause crime. This is an article of faith and basic truth.
A rather easy corollary to this is people are not responsible for illegal acts. No one should be held guilty of anything - except of course not agreeing with leftist thought - as the instrumentality is the problem. I could wax more eloquent, but that's the underlying truth of the matter.

Up until about 2006, only a handful of companies were making AR-15s

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Uh, so who were all those companies making "work-around" version after 1994?
In 1993, year before the AWB, there were DPMS, Eagle, Olympic, Bushmaster, Colt, and others, those just off the top of my head.
2006 was twelve years later, and in the huge post-ban groundswell where two-grand ARs dropped to $800, then $600, and even lower after that.

Y'know, we "olds" are not dead yet, you can ask us questions about the Beforetimes (as long as you are polite about it). The portrait of author of the quote in OP ought be enshrined next to the definition of "hubris."

Or, perhaps next to Reagan's quote about how it's not what they don't know, but what they are certain of.

Heir Kommt Die Sonne said:

But what those Fudd hunters dont realize is that after they're done banning the rest of our guns, they're gonna come after them too and make their life miserable.

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Ask all those hunters in New York State that now need a permit for any semi-automatic rifle they own, and it's a felony to hand them to someone else who does not have a permit with that weapon in that caliber.

Heir Kommt Die Sonne said:

And they're gonna continue to use hunters against the mainstream of us because guns for hunting is the only use for firearms that they respect; every other purpose they couldn't care less.

But what those Fudd hunters dont realize is that after they're done banning the rest of our guns, they're gonna come after them too and make their life miserable.

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Divide et impera. The people that are against civilian gun ownership have long realized that and are prioritizing.

jmr40 said:

When the 1994 AWB passed AR's were somewhat rare.

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Dont really remember them being rare.. Just expensive, compared to the plethora of imports

One of my best friends is a Fudd. Big time hunter, hates semi autos and specifically ARs. Posts about it on social media. Only talks to me about it when he's drinking because he's kind of a push-over and doesn't have his own original thoughts (whatever our other buddy says, he mimicks... Been like that for years).

Still a good dude.

But acting like we can't critique or even toss negativity at those who want to pull our rights is how we lose them.

There's little common ground and little compromise. I'm not saying be a jerk, but a good roast can help.

We act like kids aren't spanked enough now-a-days but get all weird when we verbally critique a mindset.

That's basically exactly how gun owners have lost so much..... and politically, how so many extreme ideas are considered "mainstream".

I hate quick catchphrases like the next guy, but a quick quip sums up a complex idea. I don't need to do a 30min dissertation with caveats when a snarky nickname will do in non-academic settings.

buy a bunch of Stripped Lowers people. Did it 7 years ago and don’t regret it.

AR’s are not for duck hunting, they are the most effective, affordable firearm, that a common man can defend in family, home, & county. And that’s why the Globalist want them gone! the last 2 years proved everything we alway thought as CORRECT and corruption & power

Mark_Mark said:

AR’s are not for duck hunting, they are the most effective, affordable firearm, that a common man can defend in family, home, & country. And that’s why the Globalist want them gone!

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Agree about the AR-15. Disagree about the Globalist bugaboo. Really a non-sequitur.

You want people to stampede to buy something tell them they can't have it. Check out Canada the most recent law say's handguns are going away for good. I wonder if there are any left to sell? Maybe a touch of PTSD but a Colt SP-1 was the first gun I bought when I came home in 1970. I still have it.

Terry G said:

View attachment 1084648 You want people to stampede to buy something tell them they can't have it. Check out Canada the most recent law say's handguns are going away for good. I wonder if there are any left to sell? Maybe a touch of PTSD but a Colt SP-1 was the first gun I bought when I came home in 1970. I still have it.

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That triangle handgaurds are very Rare!

AlexanderA said:

Colt AR-15's were available on the civilian market since 1964. I bought my first one in1968.

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I have a 4 digit serial numbered Colt AR-15 SP-1 made in 1968. I bought it from a co- worker in 1972 or so. I've kept it original. It's interesting taking it out, looking over the parts to see how they have changed over the decades. It's only had a few hundred rounds through it. All of my heavy shooting goes to the newer rifles.