I am so sorry if i sound like a complete idiot, if some of what i say is incorrect pleas correct me. I don't actually own a gun as I am not 18 (1 year away) yet but how does a full auto weapon increase killing effectiveness in a civilian context. I can understand in a military context such as a submachine gun in a hectic close quarters engagement where you need to put as many bullets in the air as you can. I see how a fully automatic gun could increase lethality in a one on one context ie someone getting robbed or a planned murder or something.

Automatic weapons are banned unless made before a certain date (that's a entire different question)

if someone had a regular Glock 19 vs a automatic Glock 19. could the automatic one cause more damage in a mass shooting event. Obviously if someone came in with an entire saw or other light machinegun with a large box magazine they would cause more damage, but would that not be very expensive and hard to get if legal?

This is long and rambly but basically are automatic weapons banned because they are more effective at killing people or are the banned because someone just said why would you need to own an automatic weapon.

Again, I'm sorry if I sound like an idiot, I don't fully know what I'm talking about and have tried to do some research, but nothing is really consistent