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.”
ICE arrests illegal alien who allegedly faked asylum claim based on homosexuality, became Indiana jail officer
Hasan Piker says UK has barred him, trashes ‘unbelievable…power’ of pro-Israel groups
Pratt rallies supporters as Los Angeles mayoral race enters final stretch
Left-wing streamer blasts New Jersey governor over state police response at ICE facility protests
Man who warned coworkers ‘no one’s going home today’ gets prison term in fatal shooting
Scott Peterson’s longtime lawyer claims ‘new’ evidence could force courts to revisit his murder conviction
Hospitals Promised Less Expensive Care After Merging Into Behemoths – the Opposite Happened
Bad News Across the Country for Dems Desperately Trying to Redistrict Before the Midterms
NYPD commissioner ‘proudly’ leads Israel parade as grand marshal; Mamdani breaks tradition, avoids event
NASA Reveals Moon Base Plan With Construction Process Beginning as Early as 2029
Trump warns judge against sacrificing national security by blocking White House ballroom, drone base
The Civil War Never Really Ended, But an American Union Could Finally Help America Truly Heal
Why NATO’s defense spending imbalance lasted for decades
Trump expands Turkey ambassador’s diplomatic role, adding Iraq, Syria amid Middle East tensions
Does China Have The Upper Hand?
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.
ICE arrests illegal alien who allegedly faked asylum claim based on homosexuality, became Indiana jail officer
Hasan Piker says UK has barred him, trashes ‘unbelievable…power’ of pro-Israel groups
Pratt rallies supporters as Los Angeles mayoral race enters final stretch
Left-wing streamer blasts New Jersey governor over state police response at ICE facility protests
Man who warned coworkers ‘no one’s going home today’ gets prison term in fatal shooting
Scott Peterson’s longtime lawyer claims ‘new’ evidence could force courts to revisit his murder conviction
Hospitals Promised Less Expensive Care After Merging Into Behemoths – the Opposite Happened
Bad News Across the Country for Dems Desperately Trying to Redistrict Before the Midterms
NYPD commissioner ‘proudly’ leads Israel parade as grand marshal; Mamdani breaks tradition, avoids event
NASA Reveals Moon Base Plan With Construction Process Beginning as Early as 2029
Trump warns judge against sacrificing national security by blocking White House ballroom, drone base
The Civil War Never Really Ended, But an American Union Could Finally Help America Truly Heal
Why NATO’s defense spending imbalance lasted for decades
Trump expands Turkey ambassador’s diplomatic role, adding Iraq, Syria amid Middle East tensions
Does China Have The Upper Hand?
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.
