AR15's are not Hunting Rifles.

I don't think some people know how much damage a pack of wild hogs can cause to crops and farmland in short order. If it wasn't going to be an AR-15 keeping them off the farm it would be another intermediate or higher caliber semi-automatic rifle that accepts standard magazines. Everyone want's to laugh at that excuse until the farmer has a bad season and has to sell his land to Bill Gates or Chinese investors, they don't exactly make large margins.
- The magazine capacity is an issue though. The standard 30 round mag is far to large for any realistic hunting purposes (you can also get up to 100 round drum mags). While you can hunt with an AR-15, it's not the best rifle for the task.
  I live in Canada and the government is in the process of banning semi-automatic centre fire rifles capable of holding more than 5 rounds. Given that 3D printers exist, this pretty much bans all rifles with interchangeable mags. I'm a gun owner on a rural property and I think that's a reasonable compromise. I can still own a decent bolt action hunting rifle and a semi-automatic rim fire rifle with no mag limit.
  It does suck for people who's rifles are getting banned though.
- We cleaned about 250 boar out of our farm over a four year period with the same 3-5 shot rifles we hunt deer and moose with. They mill around long enough you can reload. I have an SKS but I don't bother, I'd rather sneak over a hill and pop half a dozen slowly and cleanly with my .338. And I can do it from far enough away that they don't really get upset until 3 of them are lying on the ground, kicking.
You'd really want something bigger for hogs and deer. Never known anyone who hunts deer with .223. You really want one of options in thirty caliber.
While I'm sure someone hunts rabbits with a rifle you'd really use a shotgun or a really small rifle for them.
.223 is a good coyote round though. There are better coyote rounds available and there are better coyote rifles in .223.
- I’ve taken deer with 556. Even if I hadn’t, I know people do because all the heavy loads sell out around deer season.
- Actually, are we allowed to shoot coyotes in the city limits? Alligators are mostly chill and will just take off, but coyotes hunt around at night here.
There's nothing like some good tyrant jerky
...rabbits?
- Nah, it's a small round as rifles go. "High powered military rifle" is a complete misnomer.

People joke about the shooter "missing", but at a few hundred feet away, a 2" miss is clearly within the influence of wind.

Trump got extremely lucky. I don't think this was the result of a poor shot.

He fired 8 shots. It was poor shooting.
- Most people using an AR buy cheapo 115 grain FMJ to shoot from their $600 AR. Cheap ammo from a cheap AR will group at 5-6 inches shooting with a bipod from a bench with a minute between shots with no wind at that range.
  Throw in wind, stress, sub-optimal support, and rapid fire and it's a very difficult shot.
  Which is good and bad. Good in that assassinations should fail. Bad in that it means this asshole was shooting up a crowd.
- i thought it was 2 or 3 and the rest of the shots heard are the secret service snipers
What's that? I don't think Trump can 'ear you.
Too soon?
- Not soon enough.
I mean I think I'd say it was more the result of poor preparation than anything. I think most places are saying he had like, 3 shots or somewhere around there, and apparently his rifle had no optic on it at all, which is kind of an insane idea at that distance. Which I think also maybe lends credence to the idea that this was just some impulse decision rather than a prepared kind of thing. I don't think it's that hard of a shot to make in general, even given the single opportunity that you're going to be working with, I've hit soda cans with .22s at similar ranges. You barely have to take into account windage or holdover and I haven't seen any evidence of heavy wind on the day of, really.
So, I dunno, I think it's probably just an idiot kid killing himself in like, some elaborate suicide by cop or something. or just a dumb groyper, jury's still out.

For the record I would rather 45 lose and continue to drag the GOP down than have a quick death.

I'd rather he rots in a state jail for the rest of his life, and give him the same standard of care as every other inmate. No special treatment. If he needs to be put in solitary "for his own protection" then so be it. It's the system people like him loves to protect.
To be clear, I think the US treatment of prisoners is inhumane and bordering on criminal (and all too often crossing said border) and the whole penal system needs drastic change and made entirely nonprofit, and the constitution needs another Ammendment because the 13th was a mistake.
But that's not the world we live in, and the people who crafted this world should be forced to live in it.
- That would be so nice. Wish we focused on rehabilitation instead of retaliation in our criminal justice system. Its such an ass backwards system.
I would prefer Trump to have a long and miserable life in prison. Preferably in an underground cell in SuperMax somewhere. For his own protection of course.

Ar-15s are potentially ok hunting rifles for large birds and small mammals although there are better options out there.

The main argument I've heard for an AR besides the larp thing is that it's easy to find compatible accessories because it's a popular "open source" common platform.

But honestly any hunter who is serious about hunting with .223 probably has a better gun that they hunt with.

Its a good thing the second amendment doesn't just include a clause for hunting! People often forget it says

"A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."

Indeed it doesn't protect hunting or self defence at all. Only the collective defense.
- Which arguably makes the AR-15 one of the most protected guns, if we're using the wording of the second amendment as the only justification for firearms rights.
- Intent isn't started. It says the state gets guns (a militia) so the people get guns too.
  Not saying you need to agree with the sentiment, but grammatically that is what it says.

They are good hunting rifles for feral hogs actually, 30 round mags included.

Plus, banning certain magazine sizes or particular models of rifle isn't really going to fix anything, but things like universal background checks would probably help.

And they’re apparently good for hunting the elusive unarmed school children in the middle of class. 30 round mags included!
- So would any number of other rifles, handguns, and/or shotguns. Focusing on a single rifle is pointless.
TBH, I would not trust a .223 to take down a hog intent on fucking me up. If feral hogs were a threat, I'd want a semi-auto .308 or similar larger more powerful round.
- 10mm carbine would be good too if they aren't too far, but most farmers tend to hunt them from relative safety in a stand or even from a helicopter sometimes: 5.56 is a popular choice but that might be in part because it's pretty ubiquitous in the states.

hunting human rifles.

let's be honest, it was designed as a lightweight emergency carbine made of space aged materials. 60 years later we're arguing if the founding fathers meant bump stocks and cmags when they said well regulated militia.

lightweight emergency carbine
Huh, was it? So the platform wasn't designed as a main infantry weapon?
- Not initially. went through tons of growth after the AR-10 was designed.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArmaLite

Everyone's saying the guy used an AR but given the relatively small number of shots and the fact that the bullets went everywhere except where the guy was presumably aiming my bet is he was a Socialist Rifle Club guy with an SKS.

No... it was an AR with no scope fired from the prone position by someone who definitely was not trained to land shots precisely at that range from that shooting position in a highly tense unsurviveable situation again all without a fucking scope
Tmz had a video of the moron opening fire and getting counter sniped
- He didn't even have an optic?!? What an absolute idiot... haven't seen that video yet.
- Was it a camera phone video from the crowd? I saw where one guy said they tried to warn the SS because they saw the shooter.
Turns out you're wrong. It was a registered GOPer with an AR15 who also had bomb making stuff at home.

Y'know, this is in this weird spot where it's right between canon and as seen (which, by the way, can be explained even with canonical things). If it was truly as seen, the shots would have gone way wide. If it was truly canon, the Reps would be scrambling for a new candidate now.

The explanation for Stormtroopers' shoddy marksmanship on screen in A New Hope is because Vader wanted Leia & company to escape, but by the skin of their teeth, so that they would basically drop their guard the instant The Falcon took off from the Death Star and not realise there was a tracker bug installed. If Vader just let them fly off unopposed, that would probably be hella sus, and they'd probably pull over at the first asteroid to find and chuck said tracker bug. So the Stormtroopers were specifically instructed to shoot to thrill, not to kill.
When faced with opposition without plot armour and reasons to keep them alive, Stormtroopers are fucking brutal, as seen in The Empire Strikes Back - Hoth was somewhere between a decisive Imperial victory and an Imperial Curb Stomp
- When faced with opposition without plot armour and reasons to keep them alive, Stormtroopers are fucking brutal, as seen in The Empire Strikes Back - Hoth was somewhere between a decisive Imperial victory and an Imperial Curb Stomp
  Their shooting was also terrible on Endor. Maybe those were the flunky storm troopers that got put on the imperial guard due to nepotism or corruption?

The sketch! He indeed was stormtrooper.