By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Rifles such as this are used in a fraction of homicides annually, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, but anti-gunners still want them banned. (Dave Workman photo)
The FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2018 shows a slight decline in the number of homicides committed with firearms and a drop in murders overall, a fact upon which a leading national gun rights organization quickly pounced.
Suggesting that a push for more restrictive gun control laws may not be necessary, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms demanded to know from Democrat presidential contenders and the gun prohibition lobby, “What ‘gun violence’ epidemic are you talking about?”
The FBI noted in a news release, “For the second consecutive year, the estimated number of violent crimes in the nation decreased when compared with the previous year’s statistics, according to FBI figures released today. In 2018, violent crime was down 3.3 percent from the 2017 number. Property crimes also dropped 6.3 percent, marking the 16th consecutive year the collective estimates for these offenses declined.”
According to FBI data, last year there were 14,123 reported murders in the United States, down from, the 15,129 reported in 2017. In 2018, an estimated 10,256 slayings involved firearms, down slightly from the 10,982 posted by the FBI in its crime report for that year.
“The number of murders has gone down,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed. “Yet, in order to create the impression that this country is awash in violent crime, gun grabbers routinely combine the number of homicides and suicides, plus accidental deaths and call them all acts of so-called ‘gun violence.’ It is deliberately misleading and downright dishonest. Why are Democrats and the gun prohibition lobby lying about this?”
Last year, according to the FBI report, 6,603 slayings involved handguns while only 297 were identified as having been committed with rifles of any kind (there is no breakdown by action type) and 235 involved shotguns. There were 3,130 involving firearms not specifically identified.
In 2017, handguns were known to be used in 7,032 murders while 403 involved rifles and another 264 were known to have been committed with shotguns. Another 3,283 involved unidentified or unknown firearms.
Nationally, the FBI data shows continuation of a trend in the number of slayings involving knives and other cutting instruments. In 2018, the report shows 1,515 murders with knives or other cutting instruments, far more than the number of killings involving rifles and shotguns combined. In 2017, it was the same story, with 1,591 murders committed with knives and sharp instruments, again more than three times the number of homicides committed with rifles and shotguns combined.
Even if one adds the number of killings with unidentified firearms in both years on the ratio compared to handguns, fatal stabbings and slashings still far outnumber murders involving rifles and shotguns.
Still, CCRKBA is asking why there has been such a push on banning so-called “assault weapons,” typically identified as AR15-type semi-auto rifles. It’s the most popular rifle type in America today, in a variety of calibers suitable for big and small-game hunting, predator control, competition and personal protection.
Democrat “Beto” O’Rourke has already threatened to ban such rifles and confiscate them if he becomes president, while Sen. Kamala Harris, another Democrat contender, says she will use executive action to ban the importation of such firearms.
By some estimates, there may as many as 15 million such rifles in the United States today. More are being purchased as talk about bans continues.
TGM will be digging into the FBI Crime Report for 2018 as the month unfolds.
