You wouldn't know it to look at current sales figures, but the gun business is in deep, long-term trouble. Young people have no discernible interest in firearms. They want to be urban and digital, and guns are the exact opposite. Lots of guns are being sold, but they're being sold to the same shrinking group of white, rural, middle-aged men. Twenty years from now, American gun culture could be all but gone.
One gun is bucking the trend: the AR-15, the civilian version of the military's M-16. It's the only gun with a visible consumer future; it's the lifeline to which the gun business clings. This black-plastic rifle has the potential to upend not only our national gun culture, but our national gun politics.
One gun is bucking the trend: the AR-15, the civilian version of the military's M-16. It's the only gun with a visible consumer future; it's the lifeline to which the gun business clings. This black-plastic rifle has the potential to upend not only our national gun culture, but our national gun politics.
