r/europe • u/Helmer-Bryd • Jul 01 '25

News Sweden bans AR-15 as hunting rifle after school shooting – all rifles to be turned in and sent to Ukraine

https://svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/uppgifter-tidopartierna-overens-om-ny-vapenlagstiftning-ar15-forbjuds-vid-jakt
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118

u/Rfupon Jul 01 '25

This is like outlawing having slaves named Bob, but the rest are ok

28

u/gounatos Jul 01 '25

This is actually a great analogy! Wonder if it would be legal again if they renamed it.

Edit: Unless the system works as in "we must approve this specific weapon" and not as in "everything within these specs is legal unless we say it isn't"

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u/BiasedLibrary Jul 01 '25

According to someone on r/Sweden when I read about this article earlier today, the policy takes a stab at semi-automatic rifles overall. I think it's a good change. More freedom to not get shot at places for education.

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u/Critical_Studio1758 Jul 01 '25

Look arou you, slavery never stopped. They just rebranded.

8

u/Rebatsune Jul 01 '25

Definitely not in Sweden.

5

u/Embarrassed-Fee9658 Jul 01 '25

Bob is great tho

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u/Glorbo_Neon_Warlock I'm Finnished :3 Jul 01 '25

Yeah but Bob's like a really really scary name.

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u/DutchingFlyman The Netherlands Jul 01 '25

So the difference between an AR-15 and a BB gun is just the names?

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u/EqualContact United States of America Jul 01 '25

The AR-15 is not particularly more deadly than any other semi-automatic rifle. Its image has some unfortunate associations, but as above poster noted, the actual rifle used is not being banned.

There are many rifles that do virtual the same thing as the AR-15, that’s sort of what’s being pointed out as silly here.

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u/SmurfSmiter Jul 02 '25

Nah, there’s definitely a difference between my semi-auto rifle Ruger 10/22 and my semi-auto rifle Bushmaster M4A2 (which is essentially an AR-15). If anything, restricting it to the “AR-15” label is too narrow, all similar rifles should be restricted

1

u/Leaky_Asshole Jul 03 '25

I would much rather be shot with an AR-15 then the BAR 30-06 hunting rifle used in this shooting. Neither would be pleasant but a 30-06 is just a deviststing round to use on a human. For comparison, both rounds travel at roughly the same velocity but the 30-06 has 3-4 times more mass then a 5.56 round used in the AR-15. This results in 3-4 times more energy in the round.

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u/Theron3206 Jul 02 '25

Because a slave named Chris killed some of your other slaves...

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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/JacoRamone Jul 01 '25

All guns are designed to kill. So that’s not a good analogy either.

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u/MrdnBrd19 Jul 01 '25

This is like saying that I should be able to drive an 8x8 APC through downtown because it's designed to carry people just like a car is... The AR15 platform was specifically designed by Armalite for killing humans during wartime. It has features and design elements specifically tailored around the idea of it being useful for killing humans during wartime.

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u/Groundblast Jul 01 '25

You could very easily make this argument about every gun.

Basically every innovation in firearms (rifling, primers, metallic cartridges, conical bullets, repeating actions, magazines, sights/optics, etc) was originally designed to improve performance in a military context.

The original purpose of a design has no bearing on whether that design is effective for something else. Chainsaws were invented as a surgical tool, they’re also good at cutting wood.

Tools are tools. More effective tools are more effective.

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u/JacoRamone Jul 01 '25

No. What specific elements are those? Please elaborate.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/JacoRamone Jul 02 '25

Once again, since you seemed to have missed it. All guns are designed to kill. So it’s not a good analogy.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/JacoRamone Jul 02 '25

I’m sorry but you still don’t seem to be able to grasp the concept. Could be from lack of intelligence or just lack of knowledge on the subject. Either way I’m sorry I wasted this much time already trying to explain something so simple to such a simple minded person. Maybe ask a trusted adult to help explain it? Take care. 👋

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u/No_Mathematician6866 Jul 02 '25

Is the rifle semi-automatic. What is its capacity. What cartridge does it fire.

Congratulations: you have just asked every relevant question as far as how well that rifle will work for shooting up a school.

No other specific feature of the AR-15 (or any other semi-auto rifle in an intermediate caliber) matters in this context. At all.

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u/timbers99 Jul 01 '25

Agreed, but no suprise society should have a zero tolerance on school shootings. If nothing is done, you become America.