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.”
Thune goes all-in on campaign trail as Schumer stays on bench, faces rejection from fellow Dems
DHS investigates massive data breach exposing 40,000 employees, including ICE and Border Patrol agents
Haley Stevens’s Democratic fiance backs Mike Rogers, says el Sayed imperils Jewish community
MAHA heavyweights try to put Lahn over the top in Iowa governor’s race
Mamdani Keeps Taking Over NYPD Training Facility for Personal Use, and Police Union Officials Are Furious
Bill Gates Claims Artifical Intelligence Will Force Some to Choose an ‘Amish’ Lifestyle
Watch: Anti-ICE Protesters Accidentally Infuriate Immigrants While Blocking Brooklyn Bridge
Emergency declared at South Carolina nuclear site after fire erupts at lab
Conservative Journalists James O’Keefe and Cam Higby Indicted in Minnesota After Exposing Election System in Undercover Video
Legendary Sports Announcer Who Used Platform to Honor God Announces Departure
Alaska Dems Spent Months Finding a Duplicate ‘Dan Sullivan’ to Confuse GOP Voters Ahead of Senate Race
Convicted murderer got over 5-hour head start after prison escape before local police were notified: official
Judge Overseeing Maduro Case in New York Dies Before Trial
ALERT: Dominion-Related Lawsuit Dismissed Against Patrick Byrne Over ‘The Deep Rig’ Film – No Legal Basis for Key Claim
Radicals bring life in America’s largest city to screeching halt and vandalize 9/11 Memorial
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.
Thune goes all-in on campaign trail as Schumer stays on bench, faces rejection from fellow Dems
DHS investigates massive data breach exposing 40,000 employees, including ICE and Border Patrol agents
Haley Stevens’s Democratic fiance backs Mike Rogers, says el Sayed imperils Jewish community
MAHA heavyweights try to put Lahn over the top in Iowa governor’s race
Mamdani Keeps Taking Over NYPD Training Facility for Personal Use, and Police Union Officials Are Furious
Bill Gates Claims Artifical Intelligence Will Force Some to Choose an ‘Amish’ Lifestyle
Watch: Anti-ICE Protesters Accidentally Infuriate Immigrants While Blocking Brooklyn Bridge
Emergency declared at South Carolina nuclear site after fire erupts at lab
Conservative Journalists James O’Keefe and Cam Higby Indicted in Minnesota After Exposing Election System in Undercover Video
Legendary Sports Announcer Who Used Platform to Honor God Announces Departure
Alaska Dems Spent Months Finding a Duplicate ‘Dan Sullivan’ to Confuse GOP Voters Ahead of Senate Race
Convicted murderer got over 5-hour head start after prison escape before local police were notified: official
Judge Overseeing Maduro Case in New York Dies Before Trial
ALERT: Dominion-Related Lawsuit Dismissed Against Patrick Byrne Over ‘The Deep Rig’ Film – No Legal Basis for Key Claim
Radicals bring life in America’s largest city to screeching halt and vandalize 9/11 Memorial
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.
