Do you think the AR would still have been the most popular rifle in the US had the import ban never been a thing?
There's like no competition from foreign semi-auto rifles. ARs are all the average working-class dude can afford if they want a modern autoloading rifle.
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It’d still be the most popular, but there’d at least be other options when you walk into a gun store.
>no competition
there has been plenty
its just ak and ars took over and still reign
The AR is stupidly popular for more than just cheapness, which is a relatively recent aspect. It would still
>be inherently accurate and soft-shooting
>be light
>be absurdly customizable
>be simple to completely take apart/reassemble
>be boringly reliable
>shoot a readily available and cheap round
It has a lot going for it.
The round is only readily available and cheap to due to mass adoption of this rifle.
The customization options are only available due to the mass adoption of this rifle.
This. Still possible for US companies to make clones of foreign guns, and they often do. But it's notable how few actually bother doing this for guns chambered in 5.56. AR-15s are the most efficient, if not the best overall design. I would still love to have more variety, though.
Customization is easier with it than most others, tho
.223 was easily obtainable before every JoeBlow had an AR and by design it has easily swappable components. You're retarded if you think there would be no decent amount of customization options without its current popularity levels, for that matter.
Stop being stupid.
> round is only readily available and cheap to due to mass adoption of this rifle.
bitch you could get it in walmart in the late 90s when the fucking AWB was still in effect
>You're retarded if you think there would be no decent amount of customization options without its current popularity levels, for that matter.
Not that user, but this isn't an argument. Stop being an asshole.
>tripfag is retarded
No surprise
.223 is available due to the Military's adoption of the m16 and shit like that which is based off of the AR-15.
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would be, because it's the best and the Kentucky rifle of its day.
That kinda proves his point even if there was more competition there would still be a lot of ammo readily available for it
The amo was readily available for decades, the Mini14 and its popularity alone proves that
Customization was inevitable because of the design of the AR and was being routinely employed by the military from the early 90s on and you can find plenty of pictures with people having their own custom builds by the late 90s. I'm interested to hear why you think there would have been no customization options for the AR if an import ban wasn't around, or that said import ban precluded the AR being as popular as it is today
And the other user made a stupid argument that was deserving of what it got, asshole trip and all.
>defending a tripfag
put your trip back on milsurpdude
Show me where I'm defending a tripfag, I just hate shitty arguments
>stupid argument
That the size of an aftermarket is dependent on the size of the market? That the AR isn't inherently more customizable than many alternative rifles? Lmao dude think before you post
There isn't any other modern rifle out there which is even half as modular as the AR-15.
You didn't say size, you said customization as a whole was only an option because of the ARs current day popularity. This is stupid
How can you actually argue the AR isn't inherently more customizable than most? Have you tried swapping out a barrel on an AK or an R700? Ever tried to swap out the entire receiver of a M14?
Is this thread just one big shitpost?
>the size of an aftermarket is dependent on the size of the market?
Oh is that why AKs had something like 1/20th of the aftermarket of the AR even in the early-mid 2000s despite roughly being about as popular...
"I" didn't write that comment, but if you want to split hairs then he's incorrect that there would be no aftermarket. But the AR was never inherently designed to be modular. It was designed with an upper and a lower receiver (as are many other rifles), yes, but it was also made with a fixed carry handle, fixed stock, 20 inch barrel and smooth handguards. A lot of people seem to have the notion that it was designed in 1995 with the collapsible stock and RIS as OEM and automatically had the aftermarket it has now.
We made it that way. If your military stuck with the same modern rifle for 60 years and had a large civilian market that could legally own 95% of the parts, then your rifle would be as modular as the AR-15 too. Look what people did with the AK and that was even less so designed with any kind of parts interchangeability. About the only thing you can't do easily with it that you can with an AR is change the barrel (minus some funky shit like change an underfolder trunnion to a fixed-stock one). Everything else can be modified at the user level.
AKs aren;t nearly as popular as ARs in America, which is where most of the aftermarket comes from. China also produces aftermarket items, but their production is completely driven by US demand.
It wasn't designed to be, but it wound being just that and a natural platform for user customization. Again, civilians were getting into that as early as the 90s. This is all still completely avoiding the topic of the OP, being that if there wasn't an import ban would the AR be as popular as it is now. Reasons were given for why it would be, a stupid argument was made that some of those reasons were only because it was popular, which is stupid because it's assuming the AR WOULDN'T be popular if not for the import ban. It's not an argument, it's making a pointless attempt at refuting by pretending the OP topic doesn't exist and that the import ban is the only reaosn people would like it. It's stupid
This thread is stupid
Oh yeah for sure
AR would probably still be popular since Chinks will just flood the market with Copycat ARs.
This thread reeks of AKfag butthurt.
>AR thread
>no obligatory /arg/ anti-PSA shilling
somethings wrong here...
FWIW I actually agree that it would still be popular. Mainly because 1) the military and 2) it is functionally a good rifle. But in a non-import ban world I could easily see competing, cheaply imported rifles (or new ones still under parent) also developing aftermarkets that are as good or nearly so. The US has a special way of turning money into pure creativity; kind of sad to think of all the lost opportunity.
>The round is only readily available and cheap to due to mass adoption of this rifle.
Lmao google up 1970s ads for Ruger M77s and any other dozen sporting rifles being made back then, there were messloads of rifles chambered in it and any sporting goods store had the round in stock.
>The customization options are only available due to the mass adoption of this rifle.
Okay good thing the AyArr would still probably be a hit even without an import ban, soooooooo...
No
We would be flooded with absolutely dirt fucking cheap AK's. AK's have a few issues but at the end of the day they just fucking work every time. If they were dirt cheap literally every gun owner would buy one. It would be like how the SKS was but even bigger because it's a more reliable weapon and well known/iconic. I get a fucking boner just thinking about it. I love AK's.
To add to this, look at how we were flooded with Mosin's and SKS' when the Soviet Union and other commie countries fell apart in the early 90's.
Imagine if G Bush hadn't put the laws into place (notice it's always a Republican), imagine the wave of AK's that could have easily been imported without having to be disassembled and cucked. I think AR's would have caught on but not in the amount that they did, because the vacuum would have already been filled.
> aks not as popular
Not now, but in the late 90s early 2ks it was alot closer. In 2002 you could still get a decent ak for $350 or less. Ars were 700 and up retail and building was more expensive too, as well as alot less common knowlege. There were only a few kit companies and lowers were unusual items that sold for 150 bucks.
On top of all this 7.62x39 was alot cheaper than 5.56. This make AKs alot more popular then than now.
The Bush shot is deserved but that said the AR grew popular in 2004 because the AWB expired.(that and post 9/11 people scared etc.) Companies went ahead selling ARs and AR accessories.
We have to thank the anti gunners. Their ban made the AR popular as it was a more niche thing pre AWB. Along with AKs, SKSs and battle rifles ARs were about even. They brought about the flood of semi auto rifles into the common American hands and they can't take it back.
I personally think they wouldn't be as popular as they are now, but they are still one of the best choices regardless of ammo availability or even customizability.
And I'm saying this as a die hard AK fag.
ARs are great rifles.
Having been a gun buyer pre-ban and post ban AR platforms were popular then as well. Most of the good import rifles were much more expensive , if it was cheap it was ComBloc junk. Now today it's ARs above and beyond everything else it seems but back then ARs were most popular just not as much.
combloc slavshit isn't junk
Fuck off shareblue
Right...but you aren't getting the point
ARs got popular in 2004 because of the AWB, we get it. The whole point and the whole question that OP asked was whether that would have happened if import bans weren't a thing.
I'm saying that they wouldn't have been, because we would have been overloaded with AK's instead. It wouldn't have taken off as much because the vacuum would have been filled already.
lol ok kid, I wouldn't expect you to know anything about the early 90's. long before you were born. George Bush fucked gun owners just like Reagan did. This is an objective fact.
Their biggest rival might be the MAK-90
Praise it, brother!
you forget the gulf war and Iraq war 2 electric boogalo and Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of men with experience in the AR platform, it makes sense to get one as a regular citizen.
Absolutely, but we would see a lot more poor fags with AK's tricked out to weigh 12lbs. With no import ban a Chinese AK would cost like $200
not necessarily
>this isn't an argument
Yeah well neither is saying the AR can only have those things if it's popular, because where the flying fuck in the OP was 'the AR isn't popular' listed as a precondition for this fantasy scenario? I think it would still be popular even with a bunch of slavshit coming in stateside, therefore my two points that tweedle dumbfuck here says relies on that popularity still stands.
>Stop being an asshole.
Suck my tapered goat cock.
Judging by pick related compared to the number of domestically manufactured rifles I would have to say that the AR15 would still be top dog, but battle-rifles and slavshit would command a larger portion of the semi-auto market (imagine the price of a Garand!) 1989 NYT article says 700,000-1million were prevented from being imported.
nytimes.com
Also I just found out Julian Assange has been arrested.
>Press F for Rule of Law
No. I personally love the AR platform and the 5.56 round. I just don't think it would have competed against the free arm of the right world. Probably wouldn't have been as good for arms development or hunting if it were just standardized overall with that sort of thing so the AR might have done a bit better overall.
You know I ask a similar question. But in reverse. Say that no mass shootings ever occured. Just random acts of violence.
Therefore the assault weapons ban of the 90s never passes. Fast forward to 2019.
Is the AR15 even developed through the aftermarket, like it is today? Or does it go the way of the mini14. Where the AR15 is just some old fudd weapon. And instead some other platform is popular.
Im not sure that makes sense. My point is , when the assult weapons sunset expired in 2006. There was an explosion of interedt in ARs.
Damn you for posting that link. I cant fucking believe how much of a gun grabbing piece of shit Bush Sr. was.
How ironic given his son wouldnt resign clintons ban. Although I read somewhere that Bush Jr. Said that was a huge regret for him. Fuck the bushs.
my grandpa went to korea and used an m1 carbine
guess what he bought when he got back home?