When a gunman attacked a high school in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday, killing 17 people, the event marked a depressingly familiar milestone. As of this week, seven of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history have all happened since 2007. And the latest, most serious shootings all seem to have one new thing in common: the AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle. The AR-15 that typically has large magazines, shoots rounds at higher velocities than handguns, and leaves more complex wounds in victims. But in all of the latest incidents — Newtown, Conn., in 2012; San Bernardino, Calif., in 2015; Orlando, Fla., in 2016; Las Vegas, 2017; Sutherland Springs, Texas, 2017 — the attackers primarily used AR-15 semi-automatic rifles.

Source: thestar February 15, 2018 02:52 UTC