Assault weapon mass shootings on the rise in Texas
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Assault weapons are playing a bigger role in Texas mass shootings, per a new national database.
Why it matters: More than twice as many people are killed in mass shootings involving assault weapons and high-capacity magazines than shootings involving other types of guns, according to The Smoking Gun database.
Threat level: Nine of 14, or 64%, of mass shootings in Texas since 2016 involved assault weapons, according to the database by Everytown, a group co-founded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that advocates for gun restrictions.
- Nationally, assault weapons were used in 35% of mass shootings since 2016.
- Assault weapons weren't used in Texas mass shootings before 2016.
- Texas accounts for five of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
What they did: Everytown researchers spent six months identifying guns used in mass shootings, sourcing photos, police reports, and news articles to build the database.
- The researchers also gathered examples of marketing campaigns by major manufacturers that feature images of children holding weapons or photos of frontline soldiers with the tagline "use what they use."
The other side: "The NRA's position and belief is that law-abiding AR-15 owners and other firearms owners aren't the issue; criminals are," National Rifle Association spokesperson Billy McLaughlin tells Axios.
- An AR-15-style Daniel Defense gun was used in the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde.
- Two months later, Daniel Defense former CEO Marty Daniel said the company bore no responsibility for the rise in mass shootings, according to a 2022 article in the New York Times.
Flashback: In May, a Texas House committee advanced a bill increasing the minimum age from 18 to 21 to buy certain semi-automatic rifles, but it never got a vote.