As the investigation of the shooting proceeded on July 4th and in the days and weeks after, I maintained frequent contact with law enforcement and other elected officials in the area. It was important to me to understand in detail what happened that day so I could develop legislative proposals aimed at preventing similar tragedies in the future.
What I learned about the details of that day horrified me even more. The suspected shooter used an assault weapon to perpetrate the massacre: specifically, a Smith & Wesson M&P 15. The gun is an AR-15-style rifle. I learned that AR-15 rifles trace their origins to the ArmaLite AR-15, which was developed for use by the U.S. Army in the late 1950s. The original ArmaLite AR-15 was subsequently re-named with minimal modifications to become the M-16—the standard-issue infantry weapon for members of the U.S. military beginning in the mid-1960s.
I also learned that there is not much difference between the M-16 and the AR-15- style rifles available to civilians in our country. The M-16 has the capability to engage in fully automatic fire and three-shot bursts, whereas the civilian AR-15 models that are legally sold have only semi-automatic capability. Other than that difference, the AR-15s available to civilians are essentially the same as the M-16s that our soldiers have carried into battle for decades.
I also learned that the gun used by the suspected Highland Park shooter, the Smith & Wesson M&P 15, is marketed as “M&P” because “M&P” implies “Military & Police”. In other words, the gun’s manufacturer intentionally markets the weapon by touting its use as a weapon of war.
— Declaration of Illinois Rep. Bob Morgan in Barnett v. Raoul challenging Illinois’ “assault weapons” ban