Recently CNN Money published an an article by Aaron Smith called “The long history of the gun used in the GOP baseball attack“. Turns out the attempted assassin in the baseball practice attack used an SKS. But the article published one very glaring error that I pointed out to them via their contact page:
In that article, the author state: “The AR-15 has a stock made of plastic instead of wood and uses .223-caliber ammo and detachable magazines with a capacity of 100 rounds or more.”
AR-15s are not distributed with 100 round magazines. I don’t know where the author got that information. The typical magazine capacity for an AR-15 is 30 rounds, with smaller capacities available — 20 and 10 rounds. 100-round “drum” magazines are available, but they aren’t commonplace.
My AR-15, specifically a Smith and Wesson M&P15, came with a single 30-round magazine. And 30-round magazines are the typical capacity for 5.56NATO firearms, and they’re the capacity you’ll find it you buy mil-surp magazines as well. So I have no idea where the author got that information, but it’s not the first time the mainstream media has gotten it horribly wrong with reporting on firearms.
