About those AR-15s

In Florida, an AR-15 Is Easier to Buy Than a Handgun

The N.R.A. calls the AR-15 the most popular rifle in America. 

The carnage in Florida on Wednesday that left at least 17 dead seemed to confirm that the rifle and its variants have also become the weapon of choice for mass killers.

It is not hard to see why. 

Originally designed for troops to kill enemy fighters, the weapon became the military’s M16 and the shorter M4 carbine.

It was easily adapted for civilian use, with one major difference: Military versions can fire fully automatically — or in bursts of several shots — by depressing the trigger once. 

The civilian semiautomatic version requires a pull of the trigger for each shot.

But other features that make the AR-15 so deadly on the battlefield remain. 

It is light, easy to hold and easy to fire, with a limited recoil. 

Bullets fly out of the muzzle more than twice as fast as most handgun rounds.

Equally important for a gunman looking to do a lot of damage in a hurry: AR-15-style weapons are fed with box magazines that can be swapped out quickly. 

The standard magazine holds 30 rounds. Equipped in this way, a gunman can fire more than a hundred rounds in minutes.

The man accused of the killings in Parkland had “countless magazines” for his AR-15, the local sheriff said.

And there is still one more reason the weapon is so popular in states like Florida: They are very easy to buy — and for a 19-year-old like Nikolas Cruz, the accused killer, far easier to obtain than a handgun.

While Florida has a three-day waiting period for handgun purchases, anyone without a felony record, domestic abuse conviction or a handful of other exceptions can walk into a gun store, wait a few minutes to clear a background check, and walk out with an AR-15-style rifle, magazines and ammunition.

Under federal law, you also must be 21 to buy a handgun from a firearms dealer. 

But 18-year-olds can buy semiautomatic rifles.

Precisely how Mr. Cruz came to possess the gun is not clear. 

But the authorities said the AR-15 rifle that Mr. Cruz used in the attack was purchased legally.