The Cult of the AR-15 and the Crisis of American Gun Culture https://tomwellborn.substack.com/p/the-cult-of-the-ar-15-and-the-crisis
@TomWellborn Good article... couple notes though:
1) Your list of reasons why people buy AR-15s was pretty solid, but you missed two big ones: (a) Because they're high-quality and reliable, and (b) because of their popularity, they and their ammo are reasonably priced compared to other models.
2) You talk about the idolization of the AR-15, but ignore similar conversation-stifling effects stemming from its demonization. When anti-gun activists talk about banning AR-15s but not guns with the exact same capabilities only with a wood stock, it's difficult for their opponents to take them seriously.
3) In the solutions section, you didn't have an entry for voluntary government-funded gun buyback systems. That's a great way to get guns off the street before they "fall" into the wrong hands.
4) Throughout the article, it often felt like you were conflating gun owners with gun culture warriors, when the latter are only a very small vocal minority subset of the former.
@LouisIngenthron I'm trying to walk a line that might be more inclusive of gun cultists. Idealism, I know.
@TomWellborn Why, though? I'm a gun owner and even I think they're crazy. Nobody can reach people like that.
