AMERICA’S GUN: THE RISE OF THE AR-15 CNBC tells the story of one gun: the nation’s most popular and feared firearm, now at the center of a wrenching national debate. The AR-15 is legal and lethal, loved by some and despised by others, assailed and defended, seven pounds of metal and plastic that has become a symbol in the great divide between those who say it belongs only on the battlefield and others who insist owning one is their inalienable right. The AR-15 is the best-selling rifle in America: some four million are in circulation. For a thousand dollars you can buy one at a Walmart or other retailer, if they’re not sold out. It has been used by mass murderers, but is also the preferred gun of law-abiding homeowners, hunters, and sport shooters who bond with their sons at weekend target practice. In the past year, an AR-15 was used to slaughter twenty children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and by the gunman accused of killing twelve people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. CNBC correspondent Brian Sullivan explores the American gun culture and meets a broad range of AR-15 manufacturers, dealers, owners and enthusiasts, including women and children who have trained to use it. He talks to extremists and provocateurs who have threatened violence if their gun rights are denied, and also looks at the AR-15’s role in mass shootings and other crimes, profiling the victims of America’s most famous, and infamous, rifle.