The AR-15 Gun Used in the Orlando Shooting Is Available in Canada

A version of the AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle, was used in the Orlando nightclub massacre that killed 50 people over the weekend.

The same gun was also used in the Sandy Hook and San Bernadino shootings, prompting many to denounce loose American gun laws that make it easy for a civilian to get their hands on a weapon so proficient at killing people. Gun control advocates in the US have argued the AR-15 and similar firearms should be banned, while the National Rifle Association claims it's suitable for target shooting and hunting.

The AR-15 is also available in Canada despite our reputation for strict gun laws. And, according to A.J. Somerset, London, Ontario-based author of Arms: The Culture and Credo of the Gun, it's not so much its semi-automatic status that makes it dangerous as it is its high capacity magazine.

VICE talked to Somerset about the characteristics of the AR-15 and its use in Canada.

VICE: Why do you think the AR-15 or similar guns are popular choices in mass shootings?
A.J. Somerset: The AR-15 and similar rifles, the common characteristics is they're semi automatic and most importantly they're designed to take an interchangeable, detachable box magazine, usually a 30-round box magazine, which means you can hold a lot of ammunition and then when you need to reload you can reload very quickly. When you exhaust the magazine on one of these rifles the bolt of the rifle stays open and to the rear and you just press a button to drop out the magazine, slam in a new magazine, hit another button and the bolt slams forward. So reloading is super fast. This is why the military uses these rifles. It's what makes them suitable for killing a large number of people very quickly.

What about accuracy?
The AR-15 is a pretty accurate rifle. Service rifles, typically are not super accurate, as a sniper's rifle would be. But the AR-15 is a pretty accurate rifle.

Do you know how readily available they are in the US?
Until sometime last year, you were able to buy an AR-15 in a Walmart in the US, depending on what state you're in. Walmart stopped carrying them, they said because demand was falling. They're a very popular rifle and they're widely available in the States.

Do we have the exact same gun available in Canada?
Yes. The AR-15 is a specific design and there are also similar designs. In Canada we have a regulatory regime that divides firearms into non-restricted and restricted status depending on their technical status. So the AR-15 in Canada is a restricted firearm, you need a restricted licence for it and it can only be used on a (shooting) range. But they are available, they're pretty expensive, between $1,900-$2,500. While the AR-15 is restricted, there are other rifles that have the same functional characteristics, they're semi-automatic and accept 30-round box magazines, which are non-restricted in Canada, which means you just need a regular firearms licence and they don't have to be just used on a range, so there's no restrictions on transporting it.

Are there any other differences?
In Canada, by law although these rifles will accept 30-round box magazines, we aren't allowed to use rifle magazines for semi-automatic rifles with a capacity larger than five rounds. So typically, there is some kind of a mechanical stop added to the magazine that prevents it from loading more than five rounds.

Is that five-round limit just for semi-automatics?
Yes.

Are there Canadians who want the AR-15 to be unrestricted?
The AR-15 has a lot of fans in Canada who would like it moved from restricted to non-restricted. On May 13, Conservative MP Bob Zimmer (Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies) presented a petition to the House of Commons bearing over 25,000 (electronic) signatures, calling for the AR-15 to be reclassified as non-restricted. Apparently it had more signatures than any other petition since Parliament started accepting electronic petitions. The number of signatures was a consequence of an organized campaign by Canada's pro-gun groups to get people to sign.

What would these guns typically be used for?
The AR-15s and similar rifles are typically being used by people who are target shooting on a range. There are action sports they're involved in such as three-gun, where one of the three guns is a rifle. They are also by some people, the non-restricted ones, for hunting. The limit is a five-round magazine so it's not like they're spraying bullets across the landscape.

Are there lots of spin-off versions of the AR-15?
Yeah, there are certainly lots. The AR-15 is a highly successful design and that essential design is sold by many manufacturers in many different calibers.

As a firearms expert, is there anything that stands out to you in relation to gun control when you see stories like the one that's currently unfolding in Orlando?
One of the arguments you'll see bubbling up here is defenders of those guns will say they're used very little in crime. If you look at the total number of people killed by firearms in the States, the number of people killed by semi-automatic rifles is tiny. So there's a tendency on the pro-gun side to propose that things ought to be banned based on the actual harm they cause. On the other side, the police and so on, propose things should be regulated based on the risks that they pose. What makes these guns pose a risk is that interchangeable, detachable box magazine that allows rapid reloading. It's not really their semi-automaticness that does that. When people talk about semi-automatics, we're forgetting that two-thirds of duck hunters in North America use semi-automatic shotguns and those shotguns are limited to three rounds. These are very slow and inconvenient to reload. They don't pose the risk to public safety that a rifle with an interchangeable box magazine does.

In America, do they have any restrictions on magazines?
There are some states that have imposed similar to what we have in Canada, rules saying you can't have more than a certain number of rounds in a magazine, 7 and 10 for example. But the fact that there are no federal regulations on this in the States means those magazines are widely available.

Is there a way to use those large magazines in Canada?
Magazines imported to Canada are usually just full capacity magazines that have had a mechanical stop added to them. A determined person could remove that stop and have a 30-round magazine.

For someone to go into a nightclub like this and kill 50 people, would they have needed quite a bit of training? Or does this gun make it easy?
It's not difficult to operate a semi-automatic rifle. I wouldn't say it requires a great deal of training to shoot people at close range, particularly in a crowded space like a nightclub. Without wanting to get into gory details, the fact of the matter is in a space like that, you shoot somebody, the bullet passes through that person and is now tumbling and travelling in unpredictable directions and can easily hit another person and can do a lot of damage very quickly.

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