People wonder about the ‘universal’ popularity of the AR15.
I think it has to do with penis dimension. I have a pistol with a 7-round single-stack magazine. I have another with a 15-round staggered stack. Single stacks & 6-round revolvers were way popular back before everyone got professionally scared: they weren’t weapons of war, being, well, clumsy and slow.
Once everyone who watched tv was terrified of street crime (“STREET CRIME!!!”, the headlines would scream), “stopping power” was on everyone’s mind, as 9mm became ubiquitous (except for Harry’s .44 magnum); but handgun discipline is a SKILL SET few bother to learn (posing in front of the mirror (or on Instagram) is no substitute). A handgun is easy to POINT, aiming is harder. AR15s, AK47s - now THOSE have BDE by the pant load! Don’t take a girly gun to do a man’s job of murder and terror, use THE TOOL OF THE TRADE! That’ll get the job done!
I feel so…confident…now: I can practice small-unit tactics in the back yard with the kids! Make up our OWN shooter drills! RULE TIK-TOK!!!!
Which kinda brings us to today. John Brunner wrote one of the best dystopian SF novels, Stand on Zanzibar. Among many other picturesque ills & disasters the world of SoZ is heir to, they have berserkers. The silicon switches inside people’s heads flip to overload, and they start killing others. More or less at random & spur-o-the-moment. It’s a problem. I think I want to dig that out & read it again (its ‘spiritual sequel’, The Sheep Look Up, is supposed to be even more challenging. I should dig it out, too: time I read it).
Something is VERY wrong, and the steps continually forced upon us (more firearms, fewer restrictions, less accountability) have unquestionably exacerbated the wrongness.
Like TruckNutz, but with a huge bodycount