As I’ve received a few messages about this already: YES, I have seen that the Washington Post has released a series of articles on the AR-15. NO, I have not read them all yet.
I was aware that WaPo was working on this story because I spoke to one of the reporters last June about the “militarization of gun advertising.” As is often the case, the reporter was unimpressed by my moderate perspective and cautionary notes about American gun culture. As far as I can see, I am not quoted in any of the articles published so far.
Much of my commentary on this issue generally is based on my analysis of gun advertising in The American Rifleman over a 100-year period and Guns magazine over a 65-year period. (The analysis remains unpublished, unfortunately. I had hoped to publish it this spring but life intervened.)
My take based on this data is that there may indeed be some increase in the militarization of American culture and, by extension, gun culture. But it is neither as new nor as dramatic as many suggest. Read a post on my Gun Curious blog for more details.
If you find anything of value in this work, please consider sharing it with your social networks. This helps people outside my own narrow social networks find my work. Sharing is caring.
Gun Culture 2.0 
Couple technical errors. The 5.56×45 velocity is not that different than a 30/06 shot out of a Garand, esp. given the short barrels on ARs. Also, the Garand had gas operation. WaPo claimed gas operation on the M-16 was “…the real innovation was the addition of a small tube to redirect the gas from fired cartridges.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Spotted those, too. On the whole, though, I was surprised by how few factual errors there were, from people who’ve likely never even seen a gun in person, much less fired one.
LikeLike
A strong emphasis on how wicked gun mfg’s are for using marketing to earn a profit. Also, not surprisingly, the a priori assumption that ARs are somehow to blame for mass shootings.
Definitely an agenda. Can’t help but wonder if WaPo here is doing its part in a concerted push for an AWB.
LikeLike
Blaming the gun, an inanimate object, as the cause of any level of shootings is the reversion of the rational intellect back to the age old superstitions that only began to end in the Renaissance.
Believing a thing can exert some sort of mystical power over the human mind is where the old ‘Deodand’ laws came from.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, that’s a very interesting perspective on the motivation. I’ve always wondered whether the silhouette of the AR-15/M16, iconic of the Vietnam War — our first unpopular war — affects people almost as a Jungian archetype.
LikeLike
This is an interesting and very deep point. We are definitely affected by things we are completely unaware of.
LikeLiked by 1 person