AR15.com

AR15.com
Type of site
Web forum
Available inEnglish
Headquarters
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
,
United States
Owner2nd Adventure Group
Founder(s)Edward Avila
URLar15.com
CommercialYes
Users10 million (2013)[1]
Launched1996 (as mail list)
Current statusActive

AR15.com is a firearm-enthusiast web forum[2] founded as a mail list in 1996 and headquartered in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It migrated to a bulletin board system, then finally a website which the owner called "the largest firearms website in the world",[3][4] with 10 million users in 2013.[1] The company that owned the website also manufactured AR-15 rifles and was founded in 1996 by Edward Avila, who moved it from Farmington, New York, to Texas after passage of the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act in 2013.[3]

The forum was described by Politico as a significant "cyberspace" forum for discussion of the bump stock controversy in 2014.[5] The website was the subject of confusion over a 2020 Canadian government ban on an airsoft gun, leading to a demand by 170,000 petitioners for an apology to gun owners.[6]

It was bought in 2019 by 2nd Adventure Group, a holding company owned by Pete Brownell and Frank Brownell that also owns the online retailer Brownells.[7]

  1. ^ a b Swaine, Jon (2013). "Automatic for the people: America's obsession with automatic weapons". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK.
  2. ^ Stephanie Clifford, Shop Owners Report Rise in Firearm Sales as Buyers Fear Possible New Laws, New York Times (December 22, 2012).
  3. ^ a b Melody Burri (December 8, 2013). "Business blames SAFE Act for move from Farmington". Daily Messenger. Canandaigua, New York.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lee was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Valentine, Matt (December 1, 2014), "The Gunfight in Cyberspace", Politico
  6. ^ Snyder, Jesse (13 May 2020). "Trudeau's gun ban appeared to target coffee and a toy;Confusion Conservatives want ban lifted, apology for gun owners". National Post. Ontario, Canada. p. A.6.
  7. ^ F Riehl (5 June 2019). "ARFcom Interest Purchased by Brownells' Holding Company, 2nd Adventure Group". Ammoland Shooting Sports News. Ammoland, Inc. Retrieved January 20, 2021.