A quarter of a century has passed since the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999, in the U.S. state of Colorado. Since then, there have been more than 1,375 school shootings as of the 2021-2022 school year, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

In the state that saw the tragedy that shocked a nation, Colorado’s House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would ban the sale and transfer of semi-automatic firearms. If it passes the Democratic-controlled Senate, Colorado would be the 11th state to ban such weapons. However, many worry that it may not be acceptable to more centrist Democrats. Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis has also shown wariness over the ban, the AP reports.

Semi-automatic weapons, like the kind used in Columbine, have proliferated over the years. While traditional handguns make simple entrance and exit wounds, the level or destruction involving semi-automatic weapons fire is far more extensive.

“Rather than a bullet simply passing through an organ, it may inflict a more destructive wound to the organ itself,” Dr. Michael Shapiro, chief of trauma and critical care surgery at Northwestern Medicine in Illinois, told ABC News in 2023. “You may see a relatively small entrance wound and a very large, destructive, blown out skin wound on exit.”

Assault weapons also cause greater tissue damage and something called cavitation, where a large cavity is created in the body that destroys tissues and organs, Shapiro added.

CGTN analyzed data from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s School Shooting Safety Compendium and found that school shootings involving semi-automatic weapons resulted in the most number of fatalities.

Despite the rise in school shootings involving semi-automatic weapons, public polling has found mixed views of passing a federal ban on semi-automatic weapons again. The last nationwide ban took place from 1994-2004, but was not renewed by Congress.

Take a look at polling over time from Gallup on the question.

The previous Assault Weapons Ban passed Congress with support from former U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Supporters also cited a 1993 CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP poll that found 77 percent in favor of a ban, far higher than the 55 percent who supported a ban in 2022.