American Gun Audiobook Libro.fm

American Gun The True Story of the AR15 presents the epic history of Americas most controversial weapon

In the 1950s an obsessive firearms designer named Eugene Stoner invented the AR15 rifle in a California garage Highminded and patriotic Stoner sought to devise a lightweight easytouse weapon that could replace the M1s touted by soldiers in World War II What he did create was a lethal handheld icon of the American century

In American Gun the veteran Wall Street Journal reporters Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson track the AR15 from inception to ubiquity How did the same gun represent the essence of freedom to millions of Americans and the essence of evil to millions more To answer this question McWhirter and Elinson follow Stonerthe American Kalashnikovas he struggled mightily to win support for his invention which under the name M16 would become standard equipment in Vietnam Shunned by gun owners at first the rifles popularity would take off thanks to a renegade band of smalltime gun makers And in the 2000s it would become the weapon of choice for mass shooters prompting widespread calls for proscription even as the gun industry embraced it as a financial savior Writing with fairness and compassion McWhirter and Elinson explore Americas gun culture revealing the deep appeal of the AR15 the awful havoc it wreaks and the politics of reducing its toll The result is a moral history of contemporary Americas love affair with technology freedom and weaponry

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar Straus and Giroux