Wikipedia coverage of firearms

The coverage of firearms on has been criticized for systemic bias in downplaying the connection between firearms and mass shootings. However, the articles were noted for their detailed coverage of the technical aspects of firearm function.
News coverage
In 2017, The Week reported that editors removed information about mass shootings from the AR-15 article, a semi-automatic assault weapon based on the M16 military rifle which is the best-selling firearm in America. According to the article, "on , as in the real world, the users with the deepest technical knowledge of firearms are also the most fervent gun owners and the most hostile to gun control".
Efforts by some editors to add information about mass shootings to the article resulted in a backlash from members of WikiProject Firearms. In a discussion about adding information about mass shootings to the Smith & Wesson article, Trekphiler wrote, "There are millions of weapons in civilian hands, including thousands of AR-15s, and none of them have harmed anyone. This is the usual gun confiscator garbage." In another case, when the search "AR-15" redirected to "Colt AR-15", editors removed information on crimes that had been committed with other types of AR-15 rifles. Some editors argued that information about mass shootings was already available on other articles relating to the shootings, and it would be duplicative to include the same information in articles on weapons.

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