Emotional reaction to guns, for those people that have a positive and negative reaction to guns the AR-15 garnered more attention than any gun in history. And it all has to do with how it looks, my daughter(10) has a MP22 smith and wesson that looks exactly like an AR 15, and we have the standare semi auto 22s when we go to the range and she is shooting a standard 22 semi(same caliber same cycle rate) people kinda look and comment on how impressive she is with her weapon, but when she pulls out her MP you can see the worried and questioning looks that people give, and even worse is when she grabs on of the AR 15 and starts nailing it. funny how much perception plays a part in decision making.