Page, Holmes Used Semiautomatic Handgun

Wisconsin shooter Wade Michael Page used a Springfield 9mm semiautomatic handgun during the attack on a Sikh temple. The gun had been purchased legally at a gun shop in the Milwaukee area. Before moving to Wisconsin, Page had been issued five separate gun purchase permits in North Carolina after passing a background check in May 2008. Semiautomatic handguns are frequently used by mass shooters. It turns out that suspected shooter James Holmes in Aurora, Colo., Jared Loughner in Tucson, Ariz., and Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech all used similar semiautomatic handguns with high-capacity magazines. One gun expert said, “There is no valid reason for civilians to have assault rifles, semiautomatic handguns, and high-capacity magazines.”