The gun or the person

The reasons AR-15 enthusiasts love the guns is also why they’ve been used in mass shootings. The gun is light. It can shoot quickly, especially when a bump stock is added. And according to Goodman, an individual doesn’t need good aim to do more damage, more quickly.

According to USA Today, the gun has been used in 12 mass shootings over the past 35 years, including in Sandy Hook, Las Vegas and the Sutherland Springs church.

“They are dangerous weapons,” Goodman said. “It’s not that they are scary looking, it’s what they do and what they do in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them that is scary.”

AR-15 owners said it’s the people, not the gun that’s dangerous. “That style of the gun didn’t shoot the people,” Keith Sells, owner of Smoketown Gun Shop in Spring Grove, said.

Some AR-15 owners say they would like to see more educational opportunities so the public can see what the guns are like in the hands of responsible owners. Helms would like to see the NRA and local gun clubs open their doors to people with anti-gun sentiments. Once people shoot an AR15 and learn more about them, he thinks they would feel differently.

Neitzel is also an advocate for going to a range and shooting an AR-15. He said that within a week’s time of shooting one, a person will save up money and buy one.

And for those who say the guns are too dangerous to own, Neitzel offered this:

“Go shoot one and shut the hell up.” Information from: York Daily Record, http://www. ydr.com