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.”
JD Vance Responds as Media Seeks to Stoke Controversy Over His Wife’s Wedding Ring
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Capitol Hill revolt threatens Trump’s Venezuela playbook
Dem-backed ‘dignity’ bill could strip ICE of detention powers, erase immigration enforcement, critics warn
Disgraceful: Duchess Meghan Accused of Stealing $1,700 Dress from Photoshoot, Using the ‘Archiving’ of Her Royal Clothing as the Excuse
Macron denies ‘everything’ about US betrayal comments as White House hosts Ukraine for marathon talks in Miami
Watch: Stephen A. Smith Gushes About ‘Positively Brilliant’ Trump Who Keeps Foiling Democrats at Every Turn
Disgraced ex-Sen. Bob Menendez banned from holding any public office in New Jersey
Breaking: Trump Wins FIFA Peace Prize, Calls it ‘One of the Great Honors of My Life’
SCOTUS to review Trump executive order on birthright citizenship
Judge on the clock as NY AG Letitia James challenges US attorney’s authority to investigate her lawsuits
DC pipe bomb suspect makes first court appearance; family yells support
Vance acknowledges voters ‘impatient’ on affordability, rejects ‘totally bulls— narrative’
Jan 6 defendant pardoned by Trump lands in legal trouble again
Watch: Stephen A. Smith Locks Horns With Whoopi as He Schools the Women of ‘The View’ on Why Democrats Are Losing
Nearly Half of LGBT TV Characters to Vanish Next Year as Show Cancellations Pile Up
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.
JD Vance Responds as Media Seeks to Stoke Controversy Over His Wife’s Wedding Ring
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Capitol Hill revolt threatens Trump’s Venezuela playbook
Dem-backed ‘dignity’ bill could strip ICE of detention powers, erase immigration enforcement, critics warn
Disgraceful: Duchess Meghan Accused of Stealing $1,700 Dress from Photoshoot, Using the ‘Archiving’ of Her Royal Clothing as the Excuse
Macron denies ‘everything’ about US betrayal comments as White House hosts Ukraine for marathon talks in Miami
Watch: Stephen A. Smith Gushes About ‘Positively Brilliant’ Trump Who Keeps Foiling Democrats at Every Turn
Disgraced ex-Sen. Bob Menendez banned from holding any public office in New Jersey
Breaking: Trump Wins FIFA Peace Prize, Calls it ‘One of the Great Honors of My Life’
SCOTUS to review Trump executive order on birthright citizenship
Judge on the clock as NY AG Letitia James challenges US attorney’s authority to investigate her lawsuits
DC pipe bomb suspect makes first court appearance; family yells support
Vance acknowledges voters ‘impatient’ on affordability, rejects ‘totally bulls— narrative’
Jan 6 defendant pardoned by Trump lands in legal trouble again
Watch: Stephen A. Smith Locks Horns With Whoopi as He Schools the Women of ‘The View’ on Why Democrats Are Losing
Nearly Half of LGBT TV Characters to Vanish Next Year as Show Cancellations Pile Up
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.
