Despite What You've Heard, the Orlando Terrorist Did Not Use an AR-15 in Attack

Several news outlets have identified the weapon used in the Orlando terrorist attack as an AR-15 rifle.

“AR-15 Rifle Used in Orlando Massacre Has Bloody Pedigree,” an NBC News headline reads.

“Orlando Shooting Puts Spotlight on AR-15 Rifle,” Newsweek declared.

The Washington Post offered the headline: “The history of the AR-15, the weapon that had a hand in the United States’ worst mass shooting.”

(Source: AFP/Getty Images)

However, it turns out the Islamic State-supporting killer didn’t actually use an AR-15 to carry out the insidious at a gay nightclub that left 49 people dead and dozens more injured.

The terrorist was actually armed with a Sig Sauer MCX carbine. Bearing Arms’ Bob Owens has more details about the firearm and how it relates to an AR-15:

The rifle used by the Islamist terrorist in Orlando was instead a Sig Sauer MCX carbine, a modular, multi-caliber (able to swap to different calibers, including 5.56 NATO, 300 BLK, and 7.62×39) rifle system that sometimes utilizes STANAG magazines common to more than 60 different firearms, but otherwise has no major parts that interface with AR-15s in any way, shape or form.

https://www.sigevolution.com/

So how did the weapon become erroneously classified as an AR-15?

It appears that Orlando Police Chief John Mina initially described the weapon as an “AR-15-style assault rifle” and media outlets ran with the classification, several dropping “style” from the description.

The AR-15 is one of the most popular rifles in the U.S. and is regularly demonized by gun control advocates as a “weapon of war.” The semi-automatic rifle is also routinely confused as being a “machine gun” or fully automatic.

(H/T: Sean Davis)