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.”
Colorado governor accuses Trump of playing ‘political games’ after FEMA denies disaster requests
US Catholic bishops president says deportations instilling ‘fear’ in ‘widespread manner’: ‘Concerns us all’
Mock funeral held for the penny at Lincoln Memorial as 230-year coin production ends
DHS responds after reports CISA chief allegedly failed polygraph for classified intel access
Former classmate says suspect in Brown, MIT killings was ‘socially awkward’ and ‘angry’ during college years
DOJ restores Trump photo to Epstein files after determining no victims depicted
Man rushed to hospital in apparent self-inflicted shooting at Atlanta airport
Trump’s team reports concrete progress in Ukraine peace negotiations with European partners
Byron Donalds urges conservatives to ‘focus on the mission’ at AmericaFest after 2025 setbacks
Yale professor’s father charged in mother’s decades-old murder, says he ‘used me as bait’: report
Brown Recluse Spider Bite Leaves Woman Virtually Paralyzed: ‘I Couldn’t Feed Myself’
Vance says ‘America First’ movement rejects ‘purity tests,’ welcomes critical thinkers
Fetterman Rips Into Fellow Democrats After Anti-Semitic Australia Shooting: ‘A Rot Within the American Left’
Illegal Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Strangling ICE Agent
US Coast Guard pursues third ‘dark fleet’ oil tanker as Trump targets Venezuelan sanctions evasion network
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.
Colorado governor accuses Trump of playing ‘political games’ after FEMA denies disaster requests
US Catholic bishops president says deportations instilling ‘fear’ in ‘widespread manner’: ‘Concerns us all’
Mock funeral held for the penny at Lincoln Memorial as 230-year coin production ends
DHS responds after reports CISA chief allegedly failed polygraph for classified intel access
Former classmate says suspect in Brown, MIT killings was ‘socially awkward’ and ‘angry’ during college years
DOJ restores Trump photo to Epstein files after determining no victims depicted
Man rushed to hospital in apparent self-inflicted shooting at Atlanta airport
Trump’s team reports concrete progress in Ukraine peace negotiations with European partners
Byron Donalds urges conservatives to ‘focus on the mission’ at AmericaFest after 2025 setbacks
Yale professor’s father charged in mother’s decades-old murder, says he ‘used me as bait’: report
Brown Recluse Spider Bite Leaves Woman Virtually Paralyzed: ‘I Couldn’t Feed Myself’
Vance says ‘America First’ movement rejects ‘purity tests,’ welcomes critical thinkers
Fetterman Rips Into Fellow Democrats After Anti-Semitic Australia Shooting: ‘A Rot Within the American Left’
Illegal Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Strangling ICE Agent
US Coast Guard pursues third ‘dark fleet’ oil tanker as Trump targets Venezuelan sanctions evasion network
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.
