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Watch: Why Americans Are Hellbent On Buying AR-15 Guns (youtube.com)
Known as a symbol of freedom to its admirers and an assault weapon to its detractors, the AR-15 is one of the most controversial weapons in America.

Lightweight and easily customizable AR-15-style weapons have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years taking center stage at gun ranges and shooting competitions across the country.
According to the most recent national figures, there are an estimated 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the U.S. And there are about 20 million AR-15-style weapons in the country. Firearm manufacturers have seen revenue surge taking in about $1 billion from the sale of AR-15-style weapons in the past decade.

But the weapons have also been involved in a number of mass shootings. AR-15-style weapons were used at shootings in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago and a grocery store in upstate New York. Critics argue the weapons are also aggressively marketed by gun companies targeting at-risk young males.

So what is behind the popularity of the AR-15 and what responsibility do gun makers have when their products are used in mass shootings? Watch the video to learn more.

Chapters:
Intro: 0:00-2:17
Chapter 1 America's rifle: 2:18-5:30
Chapter 2 Gun ownership in America: 5:31-7:35
Chapter 3 Gun-makers: 7:36-9:51
Chapter 4 Gun ads: 9:52-11:55
Chapter 5 Mass shootings: 11:56-16:29

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    Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst The use of weapons in USA specially such as the AR-15 is a very strong debate which only may happen there. Other territories or parts of the world have different approaches and traditions. For instance in Europe this would not even be a problematic issue. We can't enter in this debate, but wonder if this is related to the mentality or mainframe of the foundations of the country, where individuality and self care and self reliance are much more important than, let's say, the welfare state of Europe and community consensus. This is seen in all aspects of life, from healthcare to work ethics to legal outcomes, etc. The actual strong political and ideological division we are witnessing there doesn't help very much too.