system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Assassins Creed] How does the modern Assassin dress and what weapons do they use?

In AC1 you can hear a firefight between Abstergo and the Assassins. Were the assassins also using guns? Or just Abstergo?

If they do still use the hidden blade, how has it improved?
gpt
With the advent of the modern world and its over abundance of cameras, a lot of traditional assassin garb and identifiers have had to be abandoned by necessity. Where in the last few decades, assassins could have worn white hoodies with slightly pointed ends, wearing one out in the open will mean someone will spot you. Either in person and use their cell phone to immediately call a templar, or they'll record it. Again with their phone or someone using a security camera most likely. Or a potential assassin could be identified on any news camera footage or even a simple live recording of a large group of people. 

No, today, you can't tell an assassin from anyone else nearby. They're the masters of hiding in plain sight, after all. Anyone walking down the street could be a trained killer, just like anyone walking down the street could be an adherent of a centuries old conspiracy. 

Again, with the rise of the omnipresent camera, the hidden blade has been phased out. Just about every public figure allied with the templars would keep themselves under some sort of supervision every time they go somewhere, just in case a stupid assassin tried to reenact the old ways. Their face would be on every news network and video screen within minutes of the assassination, leaving virtually nowhere for them to hide. But that's not to say they DON'T have hand-to-hand combat training. Probably on the level of the best martial artists and soldiers today. Not only to keep fit, but just in case. (I don't doubt the hidden blade is still around, but only used for ceremonial purposes. It's too ingrained in their culture and traditions to forget entirely.) 

The modern assassin would also know how to use guns as well. Possibly based on preference or what is available to them in the area. But guns are loud and leave traces behind that can be analyzed. A competent police force would eventually find the shooter. Or get far too close for comfort. 

The most common assassinations are most likely done through poison or very slow, but very well hidden other means. If a rich old templar, or someone allied with them, needs to die and is seeing a doctor on a regular basis for their heart, an assassin might worm their way into that doctor's employ and very slightly adjust the dosage of their medication. Not enough to be immediately traced, but enough to ensure their heart gives out 5 or 6 months in the future. By the time people begin to investigate their medication history, that nurse has already quit and fled the state/country.