Widespread use of handguns in mass shootings undercuts push to ban semiautomatic rifles

Handguns are almost three times as likely to be used in mass shootings as rifles, according to a new report from a gun-safety group that appears to cut against gun-control advocates’ push to ban some semiautomatic rifles.

More than three quarters of mass shootings from 1996 to 2016 involved a handgun, while just 29 percent of shooters used a rifle, according to the New York-based Rockefeller Institute, part of a gun safety initiative convened by a handful of mostly Democratic governors.

Some shooters, such as the attack at a Texas school earlier this month, carried both a handgun and a long gun.

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