The gun used in the Dayton shooting (top) has a barrel that’s shorter than the federal minimum for a rifle. Legally classified as a pistol, it was fed by a 100-round “double drum” magazine (lower left). A close-up of the gun’s lower receiver shows the only part of the gun that is legally considered a firearm.
(Courtesy of Dayton Police Department)
NPR reporter Bill Chappell reports that the gun used on August 4 to kill nine people and wound more than a dozen others in Dayton, Ohio was a weapon that looked like a rifle but is technically classified as a pistol under federal law.
The AR-15-style pistol, he writes, is “capable of pouring a stream of high-velocity bullets, thanks to its huge ammunition magazine.”
Under U.S. law the only part of the gun that’s technically considered a firearm is the “lower receiver,” the shell-like piece that houses the trigger and bears the maker’s serial number.
That piece of the weapon used in the mass shooting was made by Anderson Manufacturing in Hebron, Kentucky.
This week, such receivers were priced at $40, he reports.
Chappel reports:
When reached for comment, Anderson Manufacturing told NPR via email that the company “recently learned that a lower receiver manufactured by it in full compliance with its federal license was used in the senseless tragedy in Dayton, OH.”
While expressing “sympathy and condolences to all affected by this criminal act,” Anderson also noted that it has followed all laws and regulations around the products it sells to licensed dealers and customers.
To see Chappell’s story, click here.
