Just before my time, but I believe the AR-15 was actually not supremely common prior to the 21st century. Sure, there'd be more than a few around, but it wasn't until rails were added and marketing around the black rifle really took hold later on that they became as overwhelmingly popular as they are today. Anecdotally I recall a lot more scare stories of "AKs on the streets" back then than examples I can think of of privately owned Armalikes
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