Originally Posted by
jmt
For clarification:
The AR in AR-15 stands for ArmaLite not Assault Rifle. ArmaLite originally designed the rifle.
Bushmaster is just a brand/manufacturer -- like Nike, Pepsi, and Microsoft.
In fact, the cheapest Bushmaster is typically around $900. Since plenty of other AR-15 rifles can be had for as little as $500, on could rule out the cost of the weapon as a contributing factor if shooters were truly using Bushmasters.
A magazine uses a spring to feed rounds, a clip does not. To my immediate knowledge, there are no civilian semi-automatic weapons that use a clip outside of the M1 -- which was used in WWII and is not very common outside of collectors.
A 30rd. magazine is considered the standard capacity for an AR-15. High capacity would be anything more than 30.