The Federal Bureau of Investigation released its Uniform Crime Report for 2018 on Monday, and the numbers indicate that more people were killed by knives than rifles.
The annual report touts an overall drop in violent crime for the second consecutive year, according to the Bureau’s news release on the numbers. However, the numbers specifically on homicides in the United States offer some insight into America’s ongoing gun control debate.
Due to multiple shooting massacres that took place in August, gun control proponents have once again turned their animus toward semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15. Perhaps the most salient example of this is 2020 Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke’s pledge, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.”
Nation’s second-largest school district targeted by Trump over secretive trans policy
Video: Hunter Biden Hits New Rock Bottom, Agrees to Insane Cage Match Against Don Jr., Eric Trump
BREAKING IMPEACHMENT NEWS: Hearings on Tim Walz, Keith Ellison Impeachment to Begin Next Week
Midwest nasty: ‘Hoosier nice’ gets swamped in Trump White House’s redistricting revenge tour against Indiana Republicans
Sanford bets he can withstand likely Trump campaign jabs
Progressives in Washington, California, and Hawaii want to squeeze the wealthy
Rep Randy Fine joins House Freedom Caucus: ‘Strongest group of conservative patriots in Congress’
Hormuz choke point persists as Iran halts oil traffic despite Trump ceasefire
DoorDash data offers snapshot of economy voters are feeling ahead of midterms
Putin issues a decree calling for a ceasefire in fighting for Orthodox Easter holiday
Artemis II nears end of historic mission with splashdown off California coast
Trump blasts Biden admin for releasing illegal immigrant now charged in fatal hammer attack on Florida mother
Iran peace talks give JD Vance an opening in 2028 race
Mahmoud Khalil loses appeal to dismiss deportation case
Coast Guard seizes over 4,500 pounds of cocaine worth $34M from suspected narco-terrorist vessel on Easter
However, as has been the case in previous years, the numbers show that rifles in general — including semi-automatics as well as others — only account for a fraction of a percent of the total homicide rate in the United States.
Here’s what the FBI’s 2018 homicide numbers show us:
- Overall, the number of homicides dropped from 15,195 in 2017 to 14,123 in 2018. The overall number of people murdered with guns dropped as well.
- 10,265 were committed with firearms, out of which handguns accounted for 6,603.
- Rifles were used in 297 homicides, shotguns in 235, and “other guns” in 167.
- 2,963 homicides were listed as “firearms, type not stated.”
What does this show us? According to the available information, rifles accounted for just 2.1 percent of total homicides last year — and 2.9 percent of gun homicides.
Nation’s second-largest school district targeted by Trump over secretive trans policy
Video: Hunter Biden Hits New Rock Bottom, Agrees to Insane Cage Match Against Don Jr., Eric Trump
BREAKING IMPEACHMENT NEWS: Hearings on Tim Walz, Keith Ellison Impeachment to Begin Next Week
Midwest nasty: ‘Hoosier nice’ gets swamped in Trump White House’s redistricting revenge tour against Indiana Republicans
Sanford bets he can withstand likely Trump campaign jabs
Progressives in Washington, California, and Hawaii want to squeeze the wealthy
Rep Randy Fine joins House Freedom Caucus: ‘Strongest group of conservative patriots in Congress’
Hormuz choke point persists as Iran halts oil traffic despite Trump ceasefire
DoorDash data offers snapshot of economy voters are feeling ahead of midterms
Putin issues a decree calling for a ceasefire in fighting for Orthodox Easter holiday
Artemis II nears end of historic mission with splashdown off California coast
Trump blasts Biden admin for releasing illegal immigrant now charged in fatal hammer attack on Florida mother
Iran peace talks give JD Vance an opening in 2028 race
Mahmoud Khalil loses appeal to dismiss deportation case
Coast Guard seizes over 4,500 pounds of cocaine worth $34M from suspected narco-terrorist vessel on Easter
Once again, deaths from knives and “personal weapons” like hands, fists, and feet were higher than the number of homicides committed with rifles. More than five times as many murders were committed with knives (1,515) as with rifles, and more than twice as many people were killed with “personal weapons” (672). Other years included in the FBI report’s table — which spans 2014-2018 — show similar disparities between the same weapon types.
Again, these numbers are just for rifles as a whole. There’s no further breakdown for what kind of action or cosmetic features the rifles had.
But despite the facts, the question of what to do about the AR-15 and other widely used semi-automatic rifles — sometimes referred to as “assault weapons” — will likely remain as one of the main focus points in America’s ongoing debate about guns and the Second Amendment.
Story cited here.
