Another account banned from Twitter thanks to Musky Boy

Do you guys remember back when Elon insisted he was a Free Speech Absolutist? How he wanted to ensure nobody was censored on Twitter? That shit just gets funnier every day.
- His "clarification" was great too.
  “By ‘free speech,’ I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.”
  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/28/elon-musk-doesnt-understand-free-speech-or-twitter-at-all
  So, you know, North Korea's idea of "free speech" is just fine with him.
  
  considering he unbanned an account that reposted csam I think he doesnt gaf about the law
  
  Limiting free speech in accordance with the law is reasonable, there is no other good solution. The problem is that he does go beyond the law with what he censors all the time.
  
  And he’s still a hypocrite.
- He probably rationalizes it by thinking of Twitter as his personal publishing platform, thus all speech on it is subject to his editorial control. To take away his editorial control would be to violate his free speech rights in his eyes.
- We all knew he is a liar, so...
- Some commenter somewhere said maybe the account wasn’t banned if it doesn’t say “suspended”, and that other “ear truthers” are still on the platform. Didn’t confirm either myself.

If that’s an actual photo from today then I doubt he was grazed much because I skinned my knee biking the day before his rally. I’ve still got a giant scab there.
Also Pete Souza isn’t just anyone. He’s a former director of the White House photo office.
- Could be, but then blood thinners also make the wound heal longer.
  
  My thoughts exactly. I was on them for a time and I'd bleed FOREVER if I cut myself shaving. That's when I learned about styptic pencils and alum blocks.
  
  the ear is also mostly cartilage, so i wouldnt be surprised if there was a lot of blood flowing through them constantly, especially at the very top of the ear where he was grazed. Very well could still be on blood thinners, but i think i would just expect the ear to bleed pretty aggressively in some cases.
- https://www.instagram.com/b_loper?igsh=N3Q1NWpwdmo0Nnho
  
  You wanna post the other 3/4 of these?
  I'm not digging through an Instagram profile to look for that shit
- Similarly, I cut the crap out of my hand on a waterslide 2 weeks ago - grabbed the fiberglass side while trying to right myself so my kid wouldn't get dunked - and it's still healing. Close to being back to normal, but you can still clearly see where It was for sure

Journalists need to stop fucking using Twitter for fucks sake.
- Hard to get an audience if you leave big tech, Twitter included
  
  Yes, my content was way up when I joined Twitter, before Musk. I deleted it and took the financial hit, don't want customers from that user base now anyway
- Even just mirroring their stuff to one of the Twitter alternatives would be nice
  
  What!? Why? That's worse. That amplifies it. The world needs less horrible hate.
  It also does nothing to stop the news outlets from sourcing twitter
- At the end of the day incentives are incentives. All the engineers Elon fired when he took over did in fact build a site that's really good for announcing things like news to the world, and it was really quite complex behind the scenes. And if someone wants to replicate that, it's a lot of work with the added problem that unlike the original Twitter, they have to compete with Twitter in building a new network. Additionally, social media news just isn't very profitable which is why Meta/Threads has discouraged news and politics. So unfortunately Twitter is really all there is, social media news now essentially has a strong built-in right wing bias for the foreseeable future.
- I really hate when news articles embed tweets directly as a source, it's blocked by Privacy Badger, so I only see an article full of holes. Why can't they use screenshots?
- It's still wild to me that people announce things on X (né twitter).
- We all need to stop using Twitter to be fair.
- Mastodon: "I'm the guy in the picture!"

When are people actually going to leave that hellsite in meaningful numbers?
- When they don't also deepthroat Netflix after they banned password sharing. All the optimistic people, me included, said "oh this will make a huge dent in Netflix what a stupid move." But they read the room like a hawk.
  People swallowed the hook and signed up in huge numbers. https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-password-sharing-crackdown-worked-how-to-increase-subscription-streaming-2024-1
  The West has created the perfect neutered, obedient consumers who will drink whatever coolade they are given. Until we have enough people who are willing to challenge convenience and stop bowing at the altar of comfort, we will have no meaningful change.
  
  You even got people on the left saying "I won't vote for the less bad politician unless he makes me excited to vote". When did everyone get so selfish?
  
  Honestly it was a bit weird everyone on social saying Netflix was about to die. They would spend millions on market research. Thousands of man hours, and the usage data to support it.
  It's pretty arrogant to conclude that you know better.
  I don't really mean you specifically. This happens often with large companies. Like people thinking reddit would die.
  Twitter is a special case though IMO. It was shit to start with, and it's become aggressively partisan.
  
  The West has created the perfect neutered, obedient consumers who will drink whatever coolade they are given.
  Do you imply that this is specific to Western country?
  Because the number of things Chinese consumers just accept is astonishing. They have been using "pay with your face" payment method for a while, and people are just rolling with it. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/China-tech/Pay-with-your-face-100m-Chinese-switch-from-smartphones I think there's a bigger percentage of privacy focused people in EU and NA than anywhere else.
  
  coolade
  Kool-Aid
  Don't blame me for this confusing bastardization of the English language, thank a guy from Nebraska literally 100 years ago.
- When governments and corporations do
  
  Except the governments and corporations are there because that's where most of the people are.
  Users are still so ignorant to the fact that they are actually the product that Twitter sells. Some of them even pay for that privilege. 🙄
- When other social medias also let's artists post NSFW alongside regular users for maximum exposure.
- When there is a good enough alternative to Facebook/Twitter/reddit/ticktok
  
  Why do we suddenly need an alternative to something we could live without just fine before?
- They have. But when you're starting with hundreds of millions of users, it's a slow bleed.
  There's also not a lot of great alternatives. Threads is all ads. Rumble is just more MAGA shit. Mastodon/Lemmy is too fractured and lacks sufficient infrastructure as a global platform. BlueSky doesn't have a critical mass of users yet.

Hang on, ~~this guy~~ the AP seriously took a picture where there is no injury to his ear? What was all the blood then? This one needs independent corroboration.
- 2 weeks is plenty of time for a shallow, skin-only graze to heal. And ear cuts can bleed a ton.
  
  Ears, scalp, cuticles… all places that bleed like crazy.
  
  In addition, a competent plastic surgeon would likely make it look like it had never happened. I hope he goes to jail for the crimes he committed, but do people really expect him to wear an ear diaper the rest of his life?
  
  I was thinking the same thing. But something tells me the people who'd be in charge of banning the photographer, if not Musk himself, wouldn't know that.
  
  There was supposedly a big chunk out of his ear. Now it's just a skin-only graze that heals super fast? Very convenient
- When an octopus gets frightened it releases ink to confuse predators. Due to his love of hamburgers Donnie releases catsup.
  
  Do not bring us cephalopods into this.
- Wait they replaced your ear drum with cartilage? Does it work? Can you hear?
- I think he wasn't hit by a bullet but by shrapnel from something else that was hit. It' probably superficial.
- It was probably caused when like eight huge guys shoved him to the ground.
  The guy's nearly 80. Shit gets injured easily when you're old.
  Real bullets were fired for sure, but I don't think they actually came within a centimetre of preserving democracy. We're not that unlucky.
  
  If you’d actually watched the videos you’d have seen blood on the way to the ground; something definitely hit his ear.
- Could simply be his other ear and photograph is just mirrored. Like screens, you raise your left hand but to your reflection it's its right hand.
  
  Seems unlikely since it was posted by the guy who took the picture.
  
  His asymmetric haircut would give it away.
- The AP does indeed claim that this photo is from July 27, but I think that date is wrong. I can't find this exact picture elsewhere but here's an article with an almost identical picture of him climbing the same stairs, published in March.
  
  Blue and black suit. Airplane fuselage in the background of one. Different angles of his face, different lighting. They are similar, but I wouldn’t call them nearly identical.
  
  And yet here is another source with a different photo recently, so there’s no reason to think this tweet’s photo is deceptive:
  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-ear-bandage-shooting-b2586901.html
  Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends Turning Point Action's The Believers Summit 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., July 26, 2024 (REUTERS)
  It looks entirely consistent.

Everyone needs to chill out about this ear thing. It's amazing what can be covered with a little bit of makeup. As much as I detest the man, I can see why he wouldn't want to walk around with a visible ear cut. Women cover zits and blemishes with makeup as a matter of course. Do you think the orange douchewipe wants the focus on his ear? All presidents (and "presidents") have makeup up people, and their job is to cover this kind of shit up and make the person look as flawless as possible.
Let's leave the conspiracy theories to the conservatards.
- Do you think the orange douchewipe wants the focus on his ear?
  I mean, yeah, I kinda do. I expected him to milk the assassination attempt for all it's worth, and I don't think that makes me a conspiracy theorist.
  
  Some campaign adviser told him that a damaged ear presents as damaged goods, and it would be better to cover it. This is a man so concerned about his looks that he spray paints his face orange. His narcissism elevates the priority of his looks beyond any perceived sympathy (sympathy being a foreign concept to him). Even his rabid base depict him in their artwork as having a six pack abs. He is absolutely covering it up. If the blood was a prop then even his dumb handlers would be smart enough to apply a fake scab to keep the ruse going.
- Knowing how Trump has played up his assassination attempt at every opportunity.... He absolutely would want to bring attention to any damage to his ear.
  I don't really care one way or another about whatever drama is going on about his ear. I'm just saying, I don't think he'd choose to use makeup to cover up any scars on his ear.
- It’s amazing what can be covered with a little bit of makeup.
  Because Trump is known for using a "little bit" of makeup. If he was using makeup on his ear, it would be to make it look worse, not to cover it up.
  
  It's been a long time since trump ever did his own makeup. He thinks the orange makes him look good, or maybe he even thinks it's just his brand now. A blemished ear does not look good, even in the opinion of a man who thinks oranging his face rocks.
- I’d believe you if he hasn’t been over the top with his theatrics around this.
  Dude was wearing a pice of gauze the size of his ear just a week ago.
- Based ... if it weren't that the fact that accounts getting banned for simply alluding to it is very real. The whole drama may be bullshit, but accounts getting banned for this isn't. It is partisan censorship inside a major social network just using the drama as an excuse.
- Men cover facial blemishes as well.
- Yeah, and the dude got plenty of experience with makeup.
- #NotAllWomen
  Makeup is a waste of time and money.
- That, and any 5 year old with a phone could mirror a photo
  Edit: was it because there was an implication he might not have been wearing makeup? Honestly I can't keep up with what the popular opinion on lemmy is anymore

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
- THIS SHIT ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE
  
  It's so on-the-nose that I don't even Trump is the parody anymore, it's evangelical Christianity that's the real parody. A group of folks who make a story about a socialist day laborer from the Middle East and use it to justify white supremacy, unfettered capitalism, and wealth as a measure of God's love falling in line behind a cartoonishly accurate representation the "bad guy" in their book...exactly like their book said they would.
- Out of context it sounds like something.
  But add the lines right before and it's more clearly fever dream gibberish of a dying old man:
  And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority.
  Did Trump come out of the sea? Does he look like a leopard with bear feet and a lion mouth?
  People have been misunderstanding and trying to extend parts of that text to contemporary events since it was written.
  
  I've not seen his feet, but he certainly has a lyin' mouth
  
  Mar-a-lago Spanish - sea to lake
  There are 9 current trump towers. Moscow would make 10
  7 heads with blasphemous names - TRUMP on the top
  Feet of a bear -Russia is known as the bear in the west since early 20th century.
  Lion mouth - have you heard him speak? (Who hasn't, he's loud, boisterous, like a lion)
  
  You're right, but it's also funny that Christianity has generally streamlined taking things out of context. I just say "Revelation 13:3 and boom, that verse is cited out of context. Endless pamphlets, posters, sermons, and so on focus on bringing some verse without context.
  
  Apocalyptic literature isn't meant to be taken literally. It's a common mistake though, even among so-called Christians. "Mouth like a lion" could mean boastful, roaring, brave, loud, threatening, or any number of things.

Bastion of free speech
- This speech wasn't quite free enough sorry

I'm assuming all those free-speech nuts are really going after Musk for doing this right?
I'm joking, we all know it's just free-speech for the things they agree with ...

Can we revoke his government contracts now?
- I mean, they didn't even do that when he literally fucked up a Ukrainian operation against Russia.
  Money rules this country. It stopped being a democratic republic a long time ago.

Question: As this is no longer a neutral platform, what would be the legal implications? Is Twitter still a neutral carrier (or whatever the proper term is) and enjoys far-reaching legal protections for this?
- There is no such thing as a "neutral carrier" for social media. It's a made-up concept used to pretend that a social media site isn't allowed to be partisan.
  There are zero legal ramifications for making Twitter as partisan as musk wants.
  
  Funny how the "free speech" guy bought Twitter and made it more biased and authoritarian than it has ever been.
- Nothing. Private company can block whoever they want from using their service. Doesn't impact section 230 protections.
- What's a "neutral platform"? On Lemmy.world you get banned if you say something bad about israel.
  
  People shit on israel all the time here. I know I do. Guess I am banned.
  
  And yet you post thousands of criticisms about Israel, exclusively, and I see that from you and others constantly. how are you circumventing the bans?
  Inb4 "you support/defend/love Israel/genocide": no I clearly don't, I'm just pointing out that you're flat out lying here. Simply criticizing Israel has likely never resulted in a single ban.
  
  That doesn't seem right. Israel is conducting a genocide. Why would they be protected?
  
  First I’m hearing about it, because I have taken hot creamy shits on Israel before. Guess I’m banned ¯(ツ)_/¯
  
  I frequently state the fact that Israel is a genocidal apartheid ethnostate that has "Jewish supremacy" as the basis of its existence and should be abolished, and I haven't been banned anywhere for it
  
  Or Ukraine.

It would be pretty funny if the photographer just mirrored the image before uploading it.
- that would be funny, but i feel like we would know about it, because like, other photos also exist.

Elon Goebbels really seems to be working hard on this one.

Umm his last insta post was two days ago. Can someone ummm check on him?
- Last time I saw ‘em, he said something about hanging out with his buddy at Boeing.
  I’m sure everything’s fine, they’re prolly just messin with planes & stuff.
- TL;DR: he wasn't banned, he quit:
  https://www.instagram.com/p/C-A3yZiObH6/
  On Saturday, I was perplexed by photos online of Trump boarding his plane en route to a bitcoin conference. There was no bandage on his right ear. I re-posted one of the photos on Twitter and wrote, “look closely at his ear that was ‘hit’ by a bullet from a AR-15 assault rifle.”⁣
  ⁣ “Fake news,” someone responded. “It’s the wrong ear,” said another, which of course was not true. “This is an old photo,” which I felt the need to reply to. I re-posted a screenshot of New York Times photographer Doug Mills’ Twitter post of the same situation of Trump boarding his plane, which included the date and time of his photo. Doug is one of Trump’s favorite photographers and Trump has publicly called him “my genius photographer.” So I thought the maga world would at least believe Doug Mills.⁣
  ⁣ They didn’t. The comments turned ugly. Mostly about me, but also some that disparaged Doug Mills. ⁣ ⁣ Since 2017, I’ve been accustomed to having vile and hateful comments thrown at me. But I had now exposed someone else, Doug Mills, to be the recipient of hateful messages on MY Twitter account. Not cool.⁣
  ⁣ On top of that, I’ve been at a cabin with no Internet and sporadic cell coverage for the past week, which made it difficult to post anything in the first place but also a challenge to push back against the hate.⁣
  ⁣ So I de-activated my Twitter account. It was a gut decision, made only by me. I am still not sure if this is a temporary or a permanent action.⁣
  ⁣ I was unaware that some on Twitter were a⁣ responding that Elon Musk had deleted my account. How would I know? I wasn’t able to access Twitter. I did receive a few DMs here on Instagram about this, but didn’t think much about it. ⁣ ⁣ Until…late last night, I received a text message from a New York Times reporter asking me to comment about my supposedly “being kicked off X for posting a photo of Trump’s ear.” And then this morning, I received a text message from a childhood friend who asked, in jest, “Is there a Free Pete Souza donation site?”⁣
  ⁣ It was time to respond. I have so much more I want to say about the state of social media, but for now I want to make it clear that I was not kicked off Twitter. I kicked myself off.⁣
  
  I wish this was higher up in the thread...

So it was just a glass shard from the teleprompter...
- A glass shard from a teleprompter struck by a bullet. If the dude had aim worth a shit, it could have been much worse (for Trump).
  
  To be fair to the shooter lol he was 400 yards away and the adrenaline he was feeling must have been absurd

Wow, so that bullet BARELY clipped him? And he has all those pictures of him trying to act heroic?
Veterans (AKA "suckers and losers" according to Trump) must hate this guy...
- No bullet touched him, it's not like in the movies, if a round had even grazed his ear it would have removed a nice chunk of it. Extremely fast objects don't slice you nice and cleanly.
  
  They were saying it was most likely a piece of the teleprompter that nicked his ear.
  
  Extremely fast objects don’t slice you nice and cleanly.
  What? If is a light graze, yes they would just scrape(or even penetrates thin cartilage)- even if its hollow-point if the target is thin enough.

For those who care. He wasn't banned, he deleted his account.
- I should have made this a top-level comment:
  TL;DR: he wasn't banned, he quit:
  Source (Instagram)
  On Saturday, I was perplexed by photos online of Trump boarding his plane en route to a bitcoin conference. There was no bandage on his right ear. I re-posted one of the photos on Twitter and wrote, “look closely at his ear that was ‘hit’ by a bullet from a AR-15 assault rifle.”⁣
  ⁣ “Fake news,” someone responded. “It’s the wrong ear,” said another, which of course was not true. “This is an old photo,” which I felt the need to reply to. I re-posted a screenshot of New York Times photographer Doug Mills’ Twitter post of the same situation of Trump boarding his plane, which included the date and time of his photo. Doug is one of Trump’s favorite photographers and Trump has publicly called him “my genius photographer.” So I thought the maga world would at least believe Doug Mills.⁣
  ⁣ They didn’t. The comments turned ugly. Mostly about me, but also some that disparaged Doug Mills. ⁣ ⁣ Since 2017, I’ve been accustomed to having vile and hateful comments thrown at me. But I had now exposed someone else, Doug Mills, to be the recipient of hateful messages on MY Twitter account. Not cool.⁣
  ⁣ On top of that, I’ve been at a cabin with no Internet and sporadic cell coverage for the past week, which made it difficult to post anything in the first place but also a challenge to push back against the hate.⁣
  ⁣ So I de-activated my Twitter account. It was a gut decision, made only by me. I am still not sure if this is a temporary or a permanent action.⁣
  ⁣ I was unaware that some on Twitter were a⁣ responding that Elon Musk had deleted my account. How would I know? I wasn’t able to access Twitter. I did receive a few DMs here on Instagram about this, but didn’t think much about it. ⁣ ⁣ Until…late last night, I received a text message from a New York Times reporter asking me to comment about my supposedly “being kicked off X for posting a photo of Trump’s ear.” And then this morning, I received a text message from a childhood friend who asked, in jest, “Is there a Free Pete Souza donation site?”⁣
  ⁣ It was time to respond. I have so much more I want to say about the state of social media, but for now I want to make it clear that I was not kicked off Twitter. I kicked myself off.⁣
  
  Thanks for posting the work I probably should have.
- That's almost weirder

Don't tell me he's still wearing that patch. I would ask why he can't heal like normal people do.
- Wounds can take ages to heal in old people.
  
  Catch 22....what is the optimal healing time taking into account that the public loves the patch but too long healing means you're old.
- Heal. He grew it back. Only losers don’t grow their limbs back or die
  
  Heal. He grew it back.
  Is this where I'm supposed to make some sort of lizard-people reference?
  
  I'm such a loser.

His ear does have a graze at the top, such as a mild glancing blow from a bullet might cause.
People died that day, from being hit by the bullets meant for him.
So he was shot at.
Let's move on.
- "People died, let's move on" What about thoughts and prayers, while you're at it?

Musk is such a limp dick

If the government's spending power supports something/someone that does things the government is forbidden from doing per our rights, isn't that the same exact thing as the government violating our rights?

Any other president that cared for the American people would have offered and grieved for the Americans that got shot that day.
No one knows about them...
No one hears about them...
- Biden actually reached out to the widow of the retired Fire Chief. She refused his call because her dead husband wouldn't want her talking to Biden.
  Trump never bothered to reach out, but did hold her up as a prop at the RNC.
- Only know what around the internet, were others shot? Casualties?
  
  2 dead and 3 injured.

45 got 99 problems but not being visibly injured enough ain’t one
(And by 99 I mean an order of magnitude or so more)
Would be interesting if he kept wearing a bandage after this though.
- 9^9 problems

I am annoyed by folks who say "AR-15 Assault rifle" its a fucken AR-15 and im pretty sure the one used was at best in something closer to a range rifle or sharpshooter configuration. Most of what makes an assault rifle are pretty random but I feel like selective fire is a pretty important one. Aight gun rant over.
Also I wish BARs were more common cause I feel like theyd have a good hunting community due to being .308.
- I think it's because non-gun people see "AR-15", hear it being called an assault rifle, and assume the AR stands for Assault Rifle. It doesn't, it stands for ArmaLite Rifle, but good luck breaking that association in their minds.
  
  Yeah I know, I just find it real fucken annoying, its like the term assault weapon. It means nothing and is literally just a buzz word, and I really wish folks would nock it off. Learn at least a modicum about firearms before ya start yapping, I dont mind if folks want to put slight restrictions around certain weapons just dont be stupid.
  If ya think ya can create a gun completely out of 3D printed materials barrel and all. Well I have a carbon fibre submarine to sell ya.
- "Most of what makes an assault rifle are pretty random but I feel like selective fire is a pretty important one. Aight gun rant over."
  As someone trained in an army, it's weird seeing American politics trying to pretend like being able to switch to full automatic is somehow a game changer, that that needs to be the line, that that is what makes a firearm properly dangerous. First off, you don't use full auto really anywhere. You use semi-auto, double-shots, center-mass. Secondly, those "bump-stocks" are awful easy to make for the semi-autos already sold at supermarkets in the US.
  Most of what makes an assault rifle is a somewhat large magazine capacity and semi-automatic firing. Look at pretty much any conflict since a bit after WWI. What were the major advantages of the M1 Garand, for instance? It's not a huge mag, 8-round internal box magazine, but that added with the semi-automatic firing makes it far superior to any bolt-action rifle.
  Point being if it shoots rather fast and has several bullets, you should probably have some regulations on it.
  https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-simple-truth-about-gun-control
  
  I wasnt even thinking about full auto when I said selective fire, I was thinking burst more specifically three shot. I was also very tired when I made that whole comment hence why its so scatter brained.

Jfc. The tinfoil hat mentality in this thread is insane. GJ conspiracy club.
*Funny how you think tinfoil hats are exclusive to the right. Just accept what happened with Trump that day.
- Which is exactly the point. There are so many people in this thread suggesting it's rigged and a conspiracy.
  Horde shoe theory is not just a theory.

I giggle every time I read or hear, "AR Assault Rifle".
- The “AR” in “AR-15” doesn’t stand for “Assault Rifle” though. It stands for “Armalite-15”. Armalite being the company that originally developed the modular firing mechanism that we all know today. Technically speaking, the only part that is legally classified as a gun is the actual firing mechanism that Armalite developed; Everything else (like the barrel, stock, and handle) is just add-ons and accessories.
  So yeah, calling it an AR-15 assault rifle would be correct. Though there’s also the debate on what actually constitutes an “assault rifle”, as people seem to just use a “you’ll know it when you see it” rule for identifying assault rifles.
  
  A... rifle. It's just a rifle. Assault is a term used for sensationalism purposes. Gun control advocacy group decided to use the term, "assault weapons". This term was first introduced into U.S. language (regarding firearms) in the mid 80s.
- If the AR is for the AR-15, then you're mistaken on the meaning. That doesn't stand for assault rifle. It's for Armalite, the original developer of the gun.
  
  Armalite Rifle Assault Rifle is a bit clumsy. But people get so intensely hung up on the jargon because they're angry the conversation is even happening.
  Guy with a locker full of guns shits the bed when his son goes on a murder spree, and then we all get an earful about how we don't know enough about guns to understand why he was a reckless owner.
- It's an entirely innocuous statement. What are they supposed to say instead?
  "15 Assault Rifle" or "Assault Rifle 15" just makes no sense.
  "AR-15" isn't understood by all people to mean an assault rifle, since not everyone knows gun names.
  "Assault Rifle" doesn't tell people which kind of assault rifle it is, since the AR in AR-15 stands for ArmaLite.
  It's a statement that gives the most possible context to the reader about:
  What design of assault rifle it is
  What type of gun it is in general
  While also allowing readers to then learn the definition of the sole term "AR-15" over time
  
  I'd just keep it simple.. it's a rifle. What kind of rifle? A semi-automatic rifle.