Gold standard for killing: AR-15 assault rifle used in Orlando shooting is the mass murderer’s weapon of choice

When Omar Mateen entered an Orlando, Florida, nightclub on Sunday to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in US history, he wielded a weapon that has been used in massacres from California to Connecticut: a military-inspired semi-automatic rifle.

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Detective BarbaraMattson, of the Connecticut State Police holds up a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same make and model of gun used by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook School shooting, for a demonstration during a hearing of a legislative subcommittee reviewing gun law in Hartford, Connecticut. The same type of weapon was used in the Orlando massacre. Photo: AP

Published: 12:45pm, 13 Jun 2016Updated: 4:51pm, 13 Jun 2016

When Omar Mateen entered an Orlando, Florida, nightclub on Sunday to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in US history, he wielded a weapon that has been used in massacres from California to Connecticut: a military-inspired semi-automatic rifle.

Though so-called assault rifles account for a small fraction of the United States’ 30,000 annual gun deaths, they have been used in at least 10 mass shootings since 2011, according to a database compiled by Mother Jones magazine.

The prevalence of these firearms has made them a focal point in the debate over US gun laws as opponents say civilians should not own what they describe as “weapons of war.” Backers say they are simply modern rifles enjoyed by millions of law-abiding Americans.

In December 2012, Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster XM15 to kill 28 children and adults at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut before taking his own life with a Glock pistol.

Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook used two assault rifles and two pistols to kill 14 people in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015.

James Holmes carried an assault rifle, a shotgun and two pistols when he killed 12 people in a Colorado movie theatre in 2012.