First, the weapon that the shooter used was a Ruger AR-556, which is not currently classified as a rifle. It's a semi-automatic pistol that looks like an AR-15 but isn't long enough to qualify as a rifle. Which means Alissa didn't have to go through as much paperwork as if he had purchased an AR15 rifle, according to the gun control laws in Colorado.
"The AR-15 platform weapon -- whether it's in a long gun or pistol -- essentially has the same firepower. It's a semiautomatic made for combat," said Timothy D. Lytton, a gun industry expert at Georgia State University.
"The AR-15 pistol is almost sort of a novelty. Essentially it's the same firearm but with a much shorter barrel, and with a shorter stock, and it's a smaller weapon. So the same way some people might want to drive a sports car because they like the feel of the compactness and the sort of speed, they take essentially a combat weapon or a combat-style weapon and they shrink it all down into sort of a miniature version."
The AR-15 was designed for the U.S. military in the 1950s. It was invented by Eugene Stoner, who worked for a company called Armalite, which is where the AR originated. The number 556 refers to the caliber -- 5.56 millimeters.
"So the shorter barrel and shorter stock make a smaller weapon that would make it more easy to carry around," Lytton said. "It would certainly make it more concealable. You can stick the thing under a jacket in a way that would be hard to sort of stick an AR 15 platform rifle under your jacket."
The 21-year-old suspect in Monday's massacre at a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket allegedly used a Ruger AR-556 pistol -- what one expert called "a semiautomatic made for combat" that is easy to carry and has "the firepower of a long gun."
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