The table below is the FBI’s Expanded Homicide Data Table 8. It details the number of homicides year over year by weapon type and covers a period from 2009 to 2013 inclusive. You’ll notice that homicides have been on the decline in all categories through a period that includes a weak economy and increasing firearm sales. The rifle data includes homicides committed using a rifle and includes mass shootings. The AR-15 is a subset of rifle statistics. Data supplied by the NRA-ILA, indicates that production of AR-15s more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, yet we see a continued decline in rifle related homicides from 2011 to 2012. The NRA also tells us that in 2012, 825,000+ AR-15s were produced, that number is actually closer to 1.1 million AR-15s when you consider Remington’s output. Again we see a decline in rifle related homicides from 2012 to 2013.
Unless you’re remarkably stupid, or a common bold face liar, you can easily see that there’s no correlation between the availability of AR-15s and rifle related homicides; in fact, it’s an inverse relationship. Claiming otherwise is equivalent to suggesting that Conan O’Brien is a Zika virus baby!
| Expanded Homicide Data Table 8 | |||||
| Murder Victims | |||||
| by Weapon, 2009–2013 | |||||
| Weapons | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Total | 13,752 | 13,164 | 12,795 | 12,888 | 12,253 |
| Total firearms: | 9,199 | 8,874 | 8,653 | 8,897 | 8,454 |
| Handguns | 6,501 | 6,115 | 6,251 | 6,404 | 5,782 |
| Rifles | 351 | 367 | 332 | 298 | 285 |
| Shotguns | 423 | 366 | 362 | 310 | 308 |
| Other guns | 96 | 93 | 97 | 116 | 123 |
| Firearms, type not stated | 1,828 | 1,933 | 1,611 | 1,769 | 1,956 |
| Knives or cutting instruments | 1,836 | 1,732 | 1,716 | 1,604 | 1,490 |
| Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.) | 623 | 549 | 502 | 522 | 428 |
| Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.)1 | 817 | 769 | 751 | 707 | 687 |
| Poison | 7 | 11 | 5 | 13 | 11 |
| Explosives | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 2 |
| Fire | 98 | 78 | 76 | 87 | 94 |
| Narcotics | 52 | 45 | 33 | 38 | 53 |
| Drowning | 8 | 10 | 15 | 14 | 4 |
| Strangulation | 122 | 122 | 88 | 90 | 85 |
| Asphyxiation | 84 | 98 | 92 | 106 | 95 |
| Other weapons or weapons not stated | 904 | 872 | 858 | 802 | 850 |
| 1 Pushed is included in personal weapons. |
If you’re sincere about dealing with gun violence, you need to address the $200 billion to $750 billion of drugs moving through the southern border and deal with gangs and gang related activities. You can’t solve problems by promoting agendas just so you can get invited to the next Malibu beansprout party.
