This story at Wired.com's Danger Room: "The AR-15 Is More Than a Gun. It’s a Gadget" caught my attention and of course curiosity to what this story is all about. The first thing that gets into our minds these days when we encounter the word "gadget" are all those gizmos designed not for a specific purpose, but for several purposes. The Swiss Army Knife is the non-electronic gadget that can do a lot of tasks, depending on the model, and smart phones are said to the pinnacle of electric gadgetry as these they do a lot of functions and many people's lives actually depend on them for information, communication, commerce, navigation, and even emergency. Depending on the configuration gadgets provide incremental, if not revolutionary improvements in human history.

And as far as the AR-15 is concerned, calling it a "Gadget" is not far off the mark. Some of you may point out the AR-15 is a gun, made for a single purpose which is to shoot things, living or not and thus may not be considered as a gadget. But the point of the author about the AR-15 being a gadget is built on that.

We all know that the AR-15, or if you may, the M4, is the most modular rifle in history. The AK maybe the most widely produced and influential firearm in history, but the AR-15/M4 is the most fun to configure. What we mean with this is that since it's a very modular rifle, people can configure the rifle to a variety of ways they want and it does not necessarily require skills. And there is a vibrant community of modders, whether real steel, or airsoft, in which ARs come in various shapes and sizes, from the familiar to the out of this world. For tinkerers, the AR-15 is the Lego of firearms.

And because of this modularity and easy configuration, a whole industry sprung out of this firearm, from stock makers, magazine developers, optics, to rail systems designers, the AR-15/M4, has provided livelihoods for these people. Some are small companies, and some are companies that can be valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars.

Just like car enthusiasts, bikers, PC modders, Lego builders, and other tinkerers, the AR-15, even if it's not brand specific, have a place in the pantheon of "best gadgets of all time." Whilst some will take glory in tinkering with computer code, others prefer sweating it out in garages and workshops to make their own awesome builds. No wonder some AR/M4 rifles come with a "Mod X" designation, a testament to these being modified for even better performance.

So do you agree with the AR-15 being a gadget? If going by definition of adaptability and make it meet a variety of designs and purposes, it sure is. Whilst many of us in airsoft can easily get bored when another "AR" variant gets released, we are aware that  we can turn it into something we can call our very own which no other person has, and that makes the AR-15 a unique gadget on its own.

Read the full story at Wired.com.