Smith & Wesson M&P15 Smith & Wesson M&P15 The Smith & Wesson M&P15 is an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle by gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson. Introduced in 2006, the firearm is designed for police and consumer markets. "M&P" stands for "Military & Police" and is used to pay homage to the Smith & Wesson .38 Military & Police revolver. According to the company, the .38 Military & Police, now known as the Model 10 revolver, has been in continuous production since 1899, and over six million units have been produced." The M&P15 was introduced at the 2006 SHOT Show in two varieties: the M&P15
Smith & Wesson a new facility and began experimenting with a new cartridge design more suitable than the .22 Short that it had been using. At the same time, the company's design was being infringed upon by other manufacturers which led to numerous lawsuits filed by Rollin White. In many of these instances part of the restitution came in the form of the offender being forced to stamp "Manufactured for Smith & Wesson" on the revolvers in question. White's vigorous defense of his patent caused a problem for armsmakers in the United States at the time as they could not manufacture cartridge revolvers.