When I posted that assault weapons should be banned because they fire with higher muzzle velocities, and therefore the wounds they cause are more grievous and more likely to be fatal, I misinterpreted the article I was referring to. This was pointed out to me by a reader.

The comparison actually described by the surgeon was between high-powered rifles and handguns. The point is that all high-powered rifles produce wounds that are more harmful and more likely to kill, than the wounds made by handguns. This means I need to change the conclusions I drew.

My revised conclusion is that we should require high-powered rifles owned by the public to be designed to hold a small number of rounds, contained in a fixed part of the rifle rather than in a magazine that can be quickly replaced.