Jim Sullivan: HBO Misrepresented AR-15 Development

Though the late Eugene Stoner is most commonly associated with Armalite’s development of the Armalite Rifle 15, or AR-15, he was just one of several designers to work on the project. Another developer, Jim Sullivan, worked with Stoner to scale the .30 caliber AR-10 down to the smaller 5.56mm NATO round and ultimately create the AR-15 series of rifles. Sullivan, a respected engineer in his own right, was also behind the Stoner 63 and Mini 14 rifles, making him one of the most successful small arms designers of the 1960s.

Last week, HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel interviewed Sullivan about the AR-15. A rather questionable interview for a show supposedly about sports, Gumbel’s program used Sullivan’s words to paint a picture that AR-15s and similar rifles are not suited for civilian possession and use. Much like the VCDL was dissatisfied with the editing in Katie Couric’s “Under the Gun,” Sullivan has revealed that creative post-production work by HBO distorted his message.

In an article published this morning by the Federalist, Sullivan writes that “[t]he anti-gun HBO sports interview misrepresented much of what [Sullivan] had said. They were apparently trying to make the AR-15 civilian model seem too dangerous for civilian sales.” Specifically, Sullivan states that HBO ignored his distinctions between the exclusively semi-automatic AR-15 and the select-fire, military M16. The producers also apparently ignored or misunderstood Sullivan’s comparison between the 5.56mm ammunition used in the AR-15 and more powerful, traditional hunting rounds. Specifically, Sullivan writes: