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.”
Marco Rubio spotted behind DJ booth at family wedding as social media reacts to viral clip
Breaking: Rudy Giuliani in ‘Critical Condition’ at Florida Hospital
Rudy Giuliani hospitalized in critical but stable condition: ‘He’s fighting’
Breaking: After Attack of Cargo Vessel, Trump Directs US to Escort Foreign Ships Through Hormuz
Supreme Court Declines to Make Ruling in Case of ‘Socially Transitioned’ Florida Child
Company Orders Recall of Chocolate Sold Nationwide After Potentially Dangerous Ingredient Included
Latest Trump assassination attempt exposes ‘educated assassins’ moral crisis, university president says
ATF to Bring Back Sanity and Reject ‘Gender Identity’ on Gun Background Checks
Ridglan Farms beagles begin leaving Wisconsin facility after rescue groups strike deal for release
Christian School Wins Enormous Settlement After Its Team Refuses to Face Team With ‘Trans’ Player
The Democrats who are scrambling after Florida passed DeSantis’s map gerrymander
Cole Allen’s defense lawyers say he has been removed from suicide watch
Patel says FBI has cut bureaucracy, moved 1,000 agents to field offices in ‘generational’ overhaul
Dem Senate candidate Sherrod Brown claims he supports ‘closing the border’; GOP says record proves otherwise
Dem Deletes X Posts After Trashing State She Is Seeking to Represent
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.
Marco Rubio spotted behind DJ booth at family wedding as social media reacts to viral clip
Breaking: Rudy Giuliani in ‘Critical Condition’ at Florida Hospital
Rudy Giuliani hospitalized in critical but stable condition: ‘He’s fighting’
Breaking: After Attack of Cargo Vessel, Trump Directs US to Escort Foreign Ships Through Hormuz
Supreme Court Declines to Make Ruling in Case of ‘Socially Transitioned’ Florida Child
Company Orders Recall of Chocolate Sold Nationwide After Potentially Dangerous Ingredient Included
Latest Trump assassination attempt exposes ‘educated assassins’ moral crisis, university president says
ATF to Bring Back Sanity and Reject ‘Gender Identity’ on Gun Background Checks
Ridglan Farms beagles begin leaving Wisconsin facility after rescue groups strike deal for release
Christian School Wins Enormous Settlement After Its Team Refuses to Face Team With ‘Trans’ Player
The Democrats who are scrambling after Florida passed DeSantis’s map gerrymander
Cole Allen’s defense lawyers say he has been removed from suicide watch
Patel says FBI has cut bureaucracy, moved 1,000 agents to field offices in ‘generational’ overhaul
Dem Senate candidate Sherrod Brown claims he supports ‘closing the border’; GOP says record proves otherwise
Dem Deletes X Posts After Trashing State She Is Seeking to Represent
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.
