Elinson in San Francisco Chronicle on the Politics of the AR-15

Today the San Francisco Chronicle published an essay by Zusha Elinson, coauthor of American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15, titled, "How the AR-15 became the most popular – and most hated – rifle in America." Elinson writes that people need to understand the gun's wild, and very American, history if they want to find ways to reduce mass shootings. Political missteps of the past have helped get us into the current stalemate.

"People need to stop shouting, stop the memes, stop the siloed thinking and start talking across political divides about making us all safer," he writes. "This begins with understanding the social history of this technology and how it went from a Cold War invention to protect America to the center of our nation’s gun debate, and the most loathed and loved firearm in our nation’s history."