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Assault Weapons

Assault weapons are especially dangerous firearms that are not suitable for self-defense but are commonly used in the deadliest mass shootings. They are generally high-powered, semiautomatic firearms designed to fire rounds at a greater velocity than most handguns, and, when combined with high-capacity magazines, enable a shooter to fire a devastating number of rounds during a short period. From 2015 to 2022, mass shootings with four or more people killed where an assault weapon was used resulted in nearly six times as many people shot, more than twice as many people killed, and 23 times as many people wounded on average compared to those that did not involve the use of one.