What is the AR-15 rifle like and why are such weapons legal in the US?

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(CNN) —

Following cases of gun violence — like the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting that left 21 people dead — the debate about guns is reigniting.

And there is one type of weapon in particular that draws attention for being used in these massacres: the AR-15 rifle.

That was the gun used by the shooter in the Texas shooting, the same one in the mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead in 2018, the same one in the massacre in Las Vegas in October 2017 and other shootings more .

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How is the AR-15 rifle?

The AR-15 is a tactical weapon that allows for high-capacity magazines, giving the attacker enormous deadly power without wasting time reloading their ammunition.

It is reliable, fast and can use magazines with ample ammo.

It is a semi-automatic weapon, that is, every time the trigger is pulled, it fires a single bullet and the next one is reloaded.

In the case of automatic weapons, if the trigger is held down, the magazine is emptied.

Some AR-15s can be modified and converted to automatic weapons.

A seasoned attacker can fire up to 60 rounds a minute and can get hold of modified magazines.

The weapon was created to end up fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, but has become the de facto calling card for some of America's most heinous mass attackers.

How much does an AR-15 cost?

The price of this rifle varies according to the brand, the accessories and the way it is operated, among other characteristics.

The truth is that, in a search of about 10 minutes, it is possible to find an AR-15 for $500, or even less, on the Internet.

And also rifles of this type above US$ 3,000.

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These are the ranges that also appear in several blogs specialized in weapons in the United States, which put the average price between US$700 and US$800. They also mark significant differences depending on whether the AR-15 is new or used and is sold in stores. or individuals.

Colin Noir, a well-known gun-carrying activist, reported on his official Facebook account in 2019 that the average value of such a rifle was $600.

On the page of Daniel Defense, the company that manufactured the weapon used by the Uvalde attacker - and which has a history of controversial advertising that is now under the spotlight - AR-15s can be found with a value of between US $ 1,800 and $3,400.

Michael Weeks, a gun store owner in Georgia, told CNN in 2017 that around the time these rifles were banned, prices obviously went up.

There, he compared, they could be found for well over US $1,000 while, by 2017, in his store they were available for US $400.

The 1994 ban

AR-15 rifle-style weapons had a ban in the United States that expired in 2004.

There has been talk of reinstating the media, but that ban, which would need a congressional bill to revive, doesn't look like it's going anywhere on Capitol Hill any time soon.

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Even under the ban, gunmakers used loopholes to keep producing guns similar to the AR-15 by changing details on the gun or its name.

For example, the ban did not cover versions of these weapons unless they had two cosmetic features: a folding stock, a bayonet mount, a visibly protruding pistol grip, a flash top, or a grenade launcher.

To understand where the country is headed with gun control, it's important to know how we got here.

In many of the mass shootings in recent years, including the Las Vegas massacre on Oct. 1 and the Texas church shooting on Nov. 5, the attackers used semi-automatic weapons.

But it wasn't always legal to sell and buy them.

In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton pushed an assault weapons ban through Congress, and it had bipartisan support.

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Former presidents Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford even signed a joint letter sent to the House of Representatives at the time expressing their support.

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"This is an issue of vital importance to public safety," the letter said.

"We urge you to listen to the American public and law enforcement to support a ban on the further manufacture of these weapons."

Clinton's ban vetoed more than a dozen types of semi-automatic weapons similar to the one used by in the Parkland shooting.

There was a clause that stated that it would expire after 10 years if Congress did not reauthorize it.

That didn't happen.

Some Democrats wanted to renew the ban, but they weren't enough to make it happen.

So the veto expired in 2004.

Other Efforts to Bring Back Prohibition

One of the strongest advocates in Congress for a return to prohibition is California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who reintroduced a bill that would ban the sale of such weapons after a deadly shooting at a Newtown school. Connecticut.

She left 20 children and six adults dead in 2012.

Feinstein, who helped champion the 1994 legislation, crafted his proposal as an enhancement to the ban that expired in 2004. This rule would also have banned rolls of ammunition larger than 10 rounds.

When his proposal passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided not to include the proposed semi-automatic weapons ban in gun legislation going to the Senate, believing that including it would that the law would be blocked by a Republican tactic.

Instead, he proposed that the ban be an amendment to the gun legislation so that the Senate could vote on it.

Finally the proposal fell with 40 votes against 60.

In more recent years, an effort to ban these types of assault weapons in the Florida House failed.

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