AR-15 can be purchased in Canada but here’s why you don’t see them used in crimes

[The AR-15 rifle has become a weapon of choice for U.S. mass murderers VOX]

It is a sleek, black civilian model of the military M16, an intimidating-looking weapon of choice for U.S. mass murderers.

The National Rifle Association likes to call the AR-15 “America’s rifle” and in Canada the AR-15 and its many spinoffs cost anywhere from $825 used to more than $3,000 for a brand name version.

Because despite some obvious confusion over Canada’s gun laws, AR-15s and similar weapons are not prohibited in this country but, rather, restricted and there are likely thousands in circulation.

“In Canada you can buy an AR-15 and you don’t see them used in crimes in Canada,” says Noah, the operator of the Canadian website howtogetagun.ca.

“But we don’t broadly see guns used in crime nearly to the extent that you do in the United States.”

The AR-15 is one of the most popular rifles in circulation and there are an estimated three million in the U.S.

A spinoff produced by SIG Sauer was wielded by the shooter who gunned down 49 people at an Orlando gay club on the weekend.

The AR-15 was used to kill 12 at a July 2012 movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. Later that year, the same style of weapon – there are hundreds – was used in the murders of 20 children at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

“It’s a scary-looking gun,” says Noah, who doesn’t want his last name published because he has received death threats over his website, which seems neither pro- nor anti-gun so much as an explanation of the training and permit process of legal firearms ownership in Canada.

Aside from its tactical look, though, he says the AR-15 fires one bullet at a time from a magazine limited — in Canada, at least — to five rounds. In practical terms, he says it is no more dangerous than a typical hunting rifle.

The Orlando killings have launched a new round of media coverage of the AR-15. The New York Times, the Globe and Mail, Vox and Rolling Stone magazine have weighed in on a fresh round of articles on its nefarious history.

But Noah says the difference between Canada and the U.S. is not the availability of the weapon itself, but the training and screening process that precedes a purchase.

In Orlando, “this guy obtained his guns legally. He passed two background checks in a two-day period to buy these,” Noah says.

Canada has a much more arduous firearms safety training and permitting process.

The screening overseen by the RCMP is completed manually and includes interviews with at least two people whose names are provided by the applicant and can include others, such as former conjugal partners or local law enforcement.

“It is not a matter of pressing a button on a computer,” he says.

In the U.S., the screening is automated and “it’s terrible.”

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the U.S. had 3.2 gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2010. By comparison, Canada had 0.5 per 100,000 people that year.

Mexico had 10 and the United Kingdom (England and Wales) had 0.1.

Noah, who has homes in the U.S. and in Canada and lives in the U.S. right now, says the two countries are “very different in terms of laws and in culture.”

While not the most popular rifle in Canada — that title goes to the M14 — the AR-15 has its fans.

Just recently, B.C. Conservative Bob Zimmer presented a petition to Parliament to re-classify the firearm a non-restricted weapon, meaning it would be available to those with the basic firearms safety training and permit, rather than the more involved restricted firearms acquisition licence.

The e-petition drew more than 25,000 names in four months — the highest number for an e-petition to the House of Commons to date.

Zimmer did not respond to a request for an interview.

The petition argues the AR-15 and variations are restricted when there is no difference from hundreds or thousands of others that are not restricted.

That prohibits the use of the weapon for hunting “purely because of cosmetic appearance of the rifle which does not make the rifle more dangerous,” it says.

Indeed, the AR-15 was a legal hunting rifle in Canada until changes were made to firearms classifications in the 1990s.

Noah suggests the debate about a specific weapon is a red herring.

“We don’t have the real discussions that we need to have,” he says.