Correct. 59% of homicides are by handguns. It's logical to ban handguns in preference to ARs?
America has a strong 'gun culture' but that doesn't mean we're more casual about shooting people.
"America's Rifle", the M16/AR15 is deservedly popular and an extremely effective weapon. That's why sixty-something years after it became the standard weapon of Free World forces everywhere it is still in service.
I like/liked the M16s and, especially, the XM177 I was issued in Vietnam.
And it is the tool used by a lot of American mass murderers.
The type of gun used to kill 21 people, including 19 children, at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school on Tuesday was also used for 11 other mass shootings since 2012, according to USA Today.
The gun is an AR-15 style rifle, which is a semiautomatic, or "self-loading," assault rifle. The weapon was dubbed as "America's rifle" by the NRA, which is holding its annual convention about four hours from Uvalde in Houston on Friday and Saturday.
Texas gun laws:Tragedy in Uvalde sparks a familiar debate: Are guns the problem, or the solution?
'We all hurt':Uvalde residents confront grief as new details of school shooting emerge
Uvalde shooting:What we know about the Uvalde school shooting: 19 children dead, shooter planned attack
The Uvalde shooter legally purchased two AR-15 rifles soon after turning 18 on May 17 and May 20 from a local federal firearms licensee.
According to a briefing by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday, one of the guns was in his car at the scene; the other was with his body inside the school, where officials have determined his grandmother worked until 2020. She also was shot and injured before authorities say the gunman went to the campus.
AR-15s have been the weapon of choice for mass shooters. Here's what we know about them.
An AR-15 was used in the Sutherland Springs church shooting in 2017
Five years ago this November, a gunman used an AR-15 to kill 26 people in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
The Sutherland Springs shooting is the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history.
When was the AR-15 rifle put in production?
The AR-15 rifle was first developed in the 1950s. By the 1960s variations of the gun were being produced by manufactures like Colt's Manufacturing Company.
In 1994, the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act banned the weapon in the U.S., but the act was not extended in 2004.
AR-15 rifles can sell for $400 to $2,000.
AR-15 has been used in 11 mass shootings since 2012
According to USA Today, the AR-15 rifle, or variants of the AR-15 rifle, has been used in 11 mass shootings since 2012. Here's the list:
- March 10: Boulder, Colorado (King Soopers grocery store)
- June 12, 2016: Orlando, Florida (Pulse nightclub)
- Feb. 14, 2018: Parkland, Florida (Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School)
- July 20, 2012: Aurora, Colorado (Century 16 movie theater)
- Dec. 14, 2012: Sandy Hook Elementary School (Newtown, Connecticut)
- April 22, 2018: Waffle House (Nashville, Tennessee)
- Dec. 2, 2015: San Bernadino, California (holiday office party at Inland Regional Center)
- Aug. 31, 2019: Midland/Odessa (West Texas cities)
- Apr. 27, 2019: Poway synagogue (near San Diego)
- Nov. 5, 2017: Sutherland Springs (rural Texas church service)
- Oct. 27, 2018: Tree of Life Synagogue (Pittsburgh)