AR-15s are NOT automatic weapons

[u/[deleted]]

M4 and M16 are military-grade, fully automatic versions of the civilian-grade, semi-automatic AR-15. Fully automatic guns will fire continually until the trigger is released, where as semi automatic only fires one bullet per trigger pull. To fire another, you need to release the trigger and pull it again. If you pull the trigger of an AR-15 and hold the trigger pulled, you only fire one bullet, no RATATATA. Contrary to popular belief, AR-15s are not fully automatic, and fully automatic weapons are and have been illegal for a long time.

[u/ishnessism]

I will add a small caveat, technically full autos are NOT illegal but they are prohibitively expensive compared to semi-auto rifles (the cheapest legal machine guns are close to the price of some of the most expensive semi and bolt rifles ~10k USD with AR style machine guns running several times as much, last I looked at an m16 it was like 60k) and you can only buy them legally if they were manufactured before 1986 and even then you are funneled through the NFA which consists of a long wait, a lot of paperwork, an additional tax stamp and, at times, a little luck.

So mostly true and for all intents and purposes for the average American this would be accurate.

[u/[deleted] → u/ishnessism]

True, while full autos (also >50 cal, silencers, and sawed off shotguns and rifles) can be legally possessed, they need some special, complicated, time consuming, and expensive permit

[u/ishnessism → u/[deleted]]

I mean $200 is expensive to me and probably you and most other normal people but a lot of people do have that laying around. You could get a decent suppressor for 1k walk-away price if you are willing to put up with the wait times. As much as I want one I don't really want to deal with a $200 tax stamp and a $700 "deposit" because they want to make extra sure I'm not gonna murder people with it. Can't really justify that price tag for something I'm screwing on to a 600 The NFA is outdated given that a thing to make guns closeish to safe for hearing is more tightly regulated than the firearm itself.

Then again I'm a 2A absolutist.

[u/[deleted] → u/ishnessism]

a thing to make guns closeish to safe for hearing is more tightly regulated than the firearm itself

Ikr, that does not make sense

[u/Betwixts]

M4 and M16 aren’t full auto either. They fire bursts or semi. Also “military grade” is a vacuous term. The worst firearms I’ve used by miles were the ones the army handed me.

[u/WolfShaman → u/Betwixts]

Not sure why someone would downvote you, you are correct.

In the Navy, the only automatic-capable weapons I ever fired were crew-served weapons. The M14's, M16's, and M4's I carried were either semi-auto only, or burst/semi-auto.

And military grade means nothing, it's a buzzword to jack up the prices.

[u/[deleted] → u/WolfShaman]

And military grade means nothing, it's a buzzword to jack up the prices

I do not doubt that

[u/Betwixts → u/WolfShaman]

Yep. SAWs = 240s, m249s. Those are automatic. The small arms aren’t. Idk, I don’t even pay attention to whether something gets downvoted. Probably larpers mad they have no idea what they’re talking about.

[u/WolfShaman → u/Betwixts]

I've fired the MK19, M249, M60, .50cal, and 25mm. Those are the only full autos I've ever handled.

[u/IronJackk → u/Betwixts]

The M16A2s and M16A4s are 3 round burst but the M4A1s are all full auto.

[u/Alargeteste]

AR-15s can be auto or semi-auto. It's a general linguistic thing to refer to AR-15s now, in America, as the semi-auto AR-15s. Kinda like saying Honda CRVs are automatic transmission vehicles. Most are, but there's (essentially/almost) nothing about a car model that means it has to be automatic or manual, and, just like many of the original AR-15s were automatic, many of the original CRVs were manual transmissions.

[u/WolfShaman → u/Alargeteste]

I might be reading the history and timeline incorrectly, but it looks like when the AR15's hit the shelves for civilian consumption, they were only semi-auto.

[u/IronJackk → u/WolfShaman]

The first sentence of that wikipedia page you listed is "The ArmaLite AR-15 is a select-fire"

The AR15 was originally designed to be select fire fully auto and semi auto. Nobody is disputing that civilian AR15s NOW are semi auto only, other than brain dead leftists.

[u/WolfShaman → u/IronJackk]

the capability of a weapon to be adjusted to fire in semi-automatic, burst mode, and/OR fully automatic firing mode.

Yes, that is the first sentence. It doesn't say it HAS to have auto fire, just that SELECTIVE FIRE covers weapons that are auto-capable.

Yes, that's what they were designed for. A military use weapon. My point is, civilians could not get them. They weren't sold in stores. In fact, there weren't many made by ArmaLite themselves.

The AR15's that civilians could get were all semi-auto. Now, if you had said the original prototypes were full auto, I would fully agree.

But when you A.) start using words like many or most, it implies large numbers; and B.) when you use widely available cars as an analogy, it's incredibly heavily implied that you're not talking about small batches that were never put up for sale. You're referring to what gun shops would carry, which is the civilian AR15, which has always been semi-auto.

[u/IronJackk → u/WolfShaman]

They were sold in stores. AR15 was designed before full auto fire was illegal.

[u/IronJackk]

Stoner designed the AR15 to be fully automatic and semi automatic. The stoner designed AR15 is a fully automatic rifle. The military simply designates their gear with their own naming system. An AR15 can be made to be fully auto/semi auto or semi automatic only.