The rifle is a M&P 15-22. Chambered in .22LR
There's no dust cover. The ejection port is too small for the brass of a 5.56x45mm cartridge, much less a live round. The brass deflector is hollow. The handguard is molded to the upper, no way to switch the barrel. I have the same rifle but mine has MBUS instead of a Chinese red dot.
It's basically a couple of steps above a Cricket, but not as good as a Nylon 66, and certainly not as good as the gold standard, the 10/22.
I can understand a NY operation not having access to an AR-15 clone, but surely a Florida station should have been able to get one for their graphic team. I imagine some editor telling an intern... "Take some petty cash, and go by the cheapest AR looking thing you can find, we're just going to turn it over to the cops after the story anyway."
Anyway, just struck me funny. They set out to show a dreaded "weapon of war", and ended up with a cut rate plinker prone to jams. 
Edit history
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
= new reply since forum marked as read