Thread by @carbage_justin

Some tips when you get faced with the "TeLl mE WHaT AR sTaNdS FOr" question when you say you want #assultweapons banned, #VoteBlue people.

First, that question. "AR" stands for ArmaLite Rifle & ArmaLite is the company who patterned the #AR15 and originally based in Hollywood, CA in the 1950s. It went bankrupt in the 1980s, and was revived in the mid 1990s.

The part that contains the bullets in the AR-15 is properly known as a magazine or "mag." That being said, it is known in laymen as a "clip," but a clip is entirely different.

A clip is a device, usually just made from a strip of metal to allow bullets to be loaded in the magazine or the gun that doesn't have a detachable mag a bit easier. The magazine feeds the gun, but the clip feeds the magazine.

Semi-automatic means that the gun will chamber a round and be ready to fire after the first round is sent. You don't need to engage a bolt or cock a hammer to fire the next shot.

However, on most rifles like the #AR15, it requires you to cock the gun to load and ready the first round out of the magazine. This is known as the charging handle on an AR and is located just above the shoulder rest on the back of the upper assembly.

An #AR15 has many parts, but you'll hear about two the most with simple names: the upper assembly and the lower assembly. The upper assembly contains the firing pin, bolt, forward assist, and barrel attachment.

The lower receiver of an #AR15 is where the rifle contains the trigger, it's assembly, and the magazine port. However, it is sometimes sold as incomplete, as the first image shows here. You can also buy it complete with everything, including the shoulder rest.

The standard #AR15 rifle uses a .223 Remington round, but it is also capable of firing a NATO 5.56mm as the actual projectile and bullet case are both similar enough in size to work. Technically, you're not supposed to, but it can do it.

Generally speaking, a 5.56 NATO cartridge runs a higher chamber pressure (the pressure of the explosion of the powder that fires the bullet) which runs at approximately 58,000 psi. A .223 Remington is loaded to approximately 55,000 psi. Again, generally speaking.

This pressure is important in gun maintenance, but is also important for the force behind the bullet. The higher the chamber pressure, the higher the bullet velocity is. Higher velocities equals to typically better, tighter grouping and more damage to a squishy target.

Velocity is also what defeats body armor, not bullet weight, but bullet weight does play a factor. A smaller bullet can fly faster, but it then loses a lot of its momentum once it hits the target. However, a heavier bullet can travel through a target further than a lighter one.

This is what makes the .223 Remington and 5.56 NATO effective over a .22 rifle round in targets without body armor. It has the velocity to cause a lot of damage with the weight to carry it through the target for even more damage and potentially a second target behind the first.

That's also why, when you hear people like @TammyDuckworth and @Tazerface16 say an #AR15 is a weapon of war, they and others like them are not far off. The only thing different from an #M16 and the #AR15 is the selective fire option.

Of course, that can be added by installing a full-auto trigger assembly made for the #AR15 or, even easier, by using a #BumpStock.

The bump stock, or #BumpFire for #rifles like the #AR15 and #AK47, takes advantage of the guns momentum from recoil & built-in movement in a specially designed stock to allow multiple trigger pulls in quick succession. It's not quite an automatic fire, but it's damn close.

#BumpStock and bump fire devices are illegal in the US as of March 26, 2019 and owners of those devices are supposed to destroy or turn in those devices at that time.

Hopefully, this thread helps someone in their argument in #GunLaws and when they have to come up against a gun masturbating nut when the topic comes up. Feel free to share this with your friends, family, & social media accounts who are trying to make #CommenSenseGunLaws.