An investigation carried out by the U.S. House of Representatives has determined that over one decade, arms manufacturers and dealers made a juicy profit of one billion dollars from the sale of AR-15 rifles alone.

By Guillermo Alvarado

An investigation carried out by the U.S. House of Representatives has determined that over one decade, arms manufacturers and dealers made a juicy profit of one billion dollars from the sale of AR-15 rifles alone.

This figure corresponds, of course, to official data and does not include the profits obtained from other forms of transactions, such as those carried out between private individuals at fairs and exhibitions, which are frequently held in practically all the states of the northern nation.

The data stands out because it is precisely this type of device that has been used in numerous mass killings, among them the recent one in a school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers died at the hands of a shooter who had recently turned 18 years old.

In the land of great contradictions, anyone who has reached that age is prohibited from buying a beer, but can perfectly well buy an assault rifle just by proving that he has no criminal record and does not suffer from psychiatric disorders.

We are not talking about a defensive weapon, as technically a pistol or a revolver can be, but an assault weapon with great lethal power.

The AR-15 is a version of the M-16 and its premiere occurred during the Vietnam War where its technical characteristics were highly appreciated and from there it became popular, even within organized crime groups.

It is a semi-automatic rifle, that is, it does not fire in bursts, but shot by shot, but the next projectile is reloaded by the gas recovery system, so it is enough to pull the trigger again to fire another shot.

Due to its structure, made of plastic and various aluminum alloys, it is very light and without the magazine it barely weighs 3 kilograms.

It uses 5.56 millimeter caliber ammunition, the same as the M-16, which should be reserved for the army and other security forces, but which in the United States, like the rifle, can be bought in large quantities.

I reiterate, it is not at all a sporting weapon, but a weapon of war, that is, designed to kill or cause serious injuries, so it is senseless and absurd for it to be in the hands of civilians, in a society that is already quite maladjusted.

As Democratic Party Representative Carolyn Maloney said at the launch of the report, "The firearms industry profits on the blood of innocent Americans."

Despite everyone's awareness of this reality, no government has been able to put restrictions on a dirty trade that costs tens of thousands of lives each year - astounding and terrifying.