Snopes Airsoft Rifle Shooting in Back Yard at Target

Corrections & clarifications: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referenced the legality of machine guns in the United States. Automobile guns registered with the ATF before 1986 can withal be bought and sold with authorities approving.

The claim: AR-xv rifles were used in 12 contempo mass shootings

Merely as it has for other widely publicized incidents in the United States, argue about gun control legislation has followed the news of mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado. The events left 17 Americans dead.

A central question in the debate has been whether to ban assault weapons, defined in the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban as certain semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Before long afterwards news broke of the shooting at a grocery shop in Boulder, Twitter user Adam C. Best, a progressive activist and founder of the sports site FanSided, posted a tweet that associated the AR-15 burglarize with 12 loftier-profile mass shootings in the last 10 years. The tweet was soon posted to Facebook; one post received over ii,400 reactions and 1,600 shares.

All-time's merits is mostly accurate: All but one of the shootings involved the apply of at least ane AR-15-mode assail rifle. However, as we explain below, in several cases shooters had multiple guns — including 23 in the instance of the Las Vegas gunman.

USA TODAY reached out to Best for comment. A Facebook page that reposted the tweet, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Fans, said information technology was nether the impression that the tweet was truthful.

What is the AR-15, and how is it different from other popular firearms?

An AR-15 is a type of semiautomatic, or "self-loading," set on rifle.

Every bit defined in U.S. law, the term "semiautomatic," equally opposed to "automated," means the gun's operator must pull the trigger to burn each shot. NPR outlined its near recognizable features: information technology automatically reloads afterwards each shot and holds around 30 bullets before an operator needs to reload the gun.

Dubbed "America'south Burglarize" past the NRA, the AR-fifteen is popular for its easy-to-alter blueprint and lack of recoil or "blowback" after firing, which preserves the operator's aim and makes the shot more precise, as The Washington Post detailed in a Q & A on the firearm.

While the AR-fifteen is not a machine gun, a user can change the AR-15 to approximate the role of an automated gun by attaching a device called a "bump stock", as was the case in the Las Vegas shooting.

Soon after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Loftier School in Parkland, Fla. in February 2018, the Trump administration took action against bump stocks. The ATF issued a rule that changed the definition of "machine gun" to include bump stock devices, therefore rendering them illegal to possess. Notwithstanding, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit put a concur on the ban in March considering it could be unconstitutional, in a lawsuit filed by Gun Owners of America, Inc., Bloomberg Law reported. The future of the ban remains uncertain.

(Weapons in the machine gun category cannot be manufactured for civilian use in the United States, though a 1986 law still allows fully automatic weapons registered with the ATF before 1986 to exist bought and sold, afterward paying a fee and submitting an application and other paperwork.)

In this June 24, 2016 photo, an AR-15 is held in Auburn, Ga. (AP Photo/Lisa Marie Pane, File)

The Washington Post and NPR trace the history of the modernistic AR-xv back to the 1950s, when its original manufacturer ArmaLite (at present Colt) created the M-xvi machine gun. The Thou-16 became standard outcome for American troops fighting in the Vietnam War.

After the war, the company named a semiautomatic version afterward itself (AR stands for "ArmaLite Rifle," not "assail rifle") and marketed it to the public. Because the original patent has expired, the AR-15 is at present the generic name for many variants created by a variety of firearms makers.

Weapons used

United states of america TODAY researched each shooting that Best mentioned and found that in eleven out of 12 of the incidents listed, AR-xv-style rifles were used. The sole exception is the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, in which the shooter used an assault rifle that is not considered an AR-15 variant.

In the list beneath, nosotros item the weapon or weapons used in each shooting, in addition to the number of victims and their dates. Click on the headers for more information about the incidents from The states TODAY.

Boulder, Colorado (King Soopers grocery store)

Appointment: March 10
Lives lost: 10
Weapon used: Ruger AR-556 pistol

The Washington Postal service reported that the prime suspect in the shooting, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, purchased a Ruger AR-556 pistol on March 16, merely 4 days after the state of Colorado'due south two-yr assault weapons ban was blocked in court.

Orlando, Florida (Pulse nightclub)

Date: June 12, 2016
Lives lost: 49
Weapon used: Sig Sauer MCX

The Sig Sauer MCX is marketed as a "modern sporting rifle" and is very similar to the AR-fifteen in form and function. However, as explained in a Slate analysis, it is not an AR-15 variant because it uses a gas piston system to propel bullets from inside the gun instead of a direct impingement system. It is besides more modular, and so parts can be switched out and customized more easily, says Tactical Life magazine.

Parkland, Florida (Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School)

A woman sits at a sign for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Date: Feb. 14, 2018
Lives lost: 17
Weapon used : Smith and Wesson Thousand&P15, that manufacturer's version of the AR-15, USA TODAY reported.

Las Vegas (Highway 91 land music festival)

Date: October. ane, 2017
Lives lost: 58
Weapons used: 23 different weapons were recovered in the gunman'due south hotel suite, including multiple AR-fifteen style rifles and hundreds of rounds of armament, USA TODAY reported.

Several of the AR-15 variants used in the Las Vegas shooting had a crash-land stock attached, which allows guns to burn roughly equally rapidly every bit a machine gun.

Aurora, Colorado (Century xvi picture palace)

Date: July 20, 2012
Lives lost: 12
Weapon used: Ane AR-15 variant from Smith & Wesson, a pump-action 12-gauge shotgun and at least ane .40-quotient semiautomatic pistol, according to The New York Times.

Sandy Hook Uncomplicated School (Newtown, Connecticut)

Date: Dec. 14, 2012
Lives lost: 27
Weapon used: Remington AR-15-manner bushmaster, USA TODAY reported.

Waffle Firm (Nashville, Tennessee)

Date: Apr 22, 2018
Lives lost: 4
Weapon used: AR-15 assail-manner rifle, according to The Tennessean.

San Bernadino, California (holiday office party at Inland Regional Center):

Date: Dec. 2, 2015
Lives lost: 14
Weapon used: 2 AR-15 variants (Smith & Wesson Chiliad&P assault rifle and a DPMS Panther Arms assault rifle) a Smith & Wesson handgun and a Llama handgun, according to The New York Times.

Scene outside the Cinergy movie theater in Odessa, Texas where a gunman was killed in a shootout with police. Five people were killed and 21 people were injured in a shooting on Saturday, Aug 31, 2019 in Odessa and Midland, Texas.

Midland/Odessa (West Texas cities)

Date: Aug. 31, 2019
Lives lost: 7
Weapon used: At least ane AR-15 variant, as stated in a Justice Section press release well-nigh a case involving the homo who sold the gun to the shooter.

Poway synagogue (near San Diego)

Appointment: Apr. 27, 2019
Lives lost: 1
Weapon used: AR-15 variant, according to a Justice Department court filing.

Sutherland Springs (rural Texas church building service)

Date: Nov. 5, 2017
Lives lost: 26
Weapon used: Ruger AR-xv variant, United states of america TODAY reported.

Tree of Life Synagogue (Pittsburgh)

Les Wexner speaks at a prayer vigil held at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Columbus on Sunday, October 28, 2018, for the victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.

Date: Oct. 27, 2018
Lives lost: eleven
Weapon used: "multiple firearms'' including a Colt AR-xv rifle and iii Glock .357, according to a Justice Department press release about the shooting's designation as a hate law-breaking

More than:Suspect charged with 29 counts in 'horrific' synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh

Our rating: Missing context

We rate this merits MISSING CONTEXT, considering without additional information it could be misleading. All but i of the shootings involved the use of an AR-15-fashion assault rifle, and the shooting that did not use an AR-15 used a very similar attack rifle. However, the lack of context could lead a reader to believe that the shooters in all incidents listed but used an AR-15, when in several cases they had multiple guns — including 23 in the instance of the Las Vegas gunman.

Our fact-bank check sources:

Adam All-time (@adamcbest), March 22, tweet
Axios, Sep. 7, 2019, What the deadliest mass shootings have in common
Bloomberg Police, March 25, Federal Crash-land Stock Ban Blocked by Divided Appeals Court
Agency of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, last updated February. 21, 2019, Bump Stocks
CBS News, March 26, Gun used in Boulder mass shooting was bought legally, constabulary principal says
GunDigest, June 18, 2014, 6 Facts About AR-15 Direct Impingement Vs. Gas Piston
The New York Times Interactive, concluding updated Feb. xvi, 2018, How They Got Their Guns
The New York Times, July 23, 2012, Aurora Gunman's Arsenal: Shotgun, Semiautomatic Burglarize and, at the Finish, a Pistol
NBC News, July 12, 2016, AR-fifteen Style Rifle Used in Orlando Massacre Has Bloody Pedigree
NPR, Feb. 28, 2018, A Brief History of the AR-15
Slate, June fourteen, 2016, Omar Mateen Had a "Modern Sporting Rifle"
The Tennessean, April 22, 2018, Waffle Firm shooting: Police confirm AR-fifteen used in attack at Antioch diner
U.S. Chaser'south Office for the Northern District of Texas, Jan. 7, Man Who Sold Midland/Odessa Shooter AR-xv Used in Massacre Sentenced for Unlicensed Firearms Dealing
U.South. Attorney'southward Part for the Western Commune of Penn., January. 29, 2019, Additional Charges Filed in Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting
United States District Court for the Southern Commune of California, May 9, 2019, Final Complaint, U.s. of America five. John Timothy Earnest
USA TODAY, Nov. 12, 2019, Supreme Court refuses to cake lawsuit confronting gun manufacturer brought by Sandy Hook families
Us TODAY, Oct. iii, 2017, What guns were used in the Las Vegas shooting?
Washington Postal service, Feb. 15, 2018, Information technology's time to bring back the assault weapons ban, gun violence experts say
Washington Mail, Feb. 16, 2018, Basic Questions about the AR-15
Washington Post, March 23, Days after assault weapons ban was lifted in Boulder, a community grieves another mass shooting in America: 'It hurts'

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