Over the past year, AR-15 rifles, and their owners, have been attacked from many sides. Some have deemed “assault rifles” as things to be eliminated and destroyed. However, FBI crime stats show that knives, clubs and hammers killed more people in 2017 than rifles of any kind.
In fact, according to the 2017 Uniformed Crime Report, knives were used four times more than rifles in murders. Additionally, all types of rifles are included in the report—bolt-action, pump-action, single shot and semi-autos. This means that only a percentage of the 403 murders committed with rifles were performed with “assault rifles.” Even when combining shotguns with rifles, knives still killed more than double the number of people.
More so, blunt objects, such as hammers and clubs, killed 64 more people than rifles, with 467 murders. Even hands and feet killed more people than rifles, with 692 murder victims being beaten or kicked to death.
Of course, 2017 could be a fluke, but that is not the case. In 2016, murderers used knives more than four times more than rifles. This rate is even higher in 2015, with 1,544 murders committed with knives and only 269 murders committed with rifles.
In a yearly comparison FBI Crime Stats list, between 2008 and 2112, knives, blunt instruments and personal weapons (hands, fists and feet) were used in more murders than rifles every single year.
As such, FBI Crime Stats show that victims have a much lower chance of being killed any weapon other than handguns, despite the attacks on AR-15 rifles. Considering that firearms are used more than 2 million times a year to stop an attack, most anti-gun arguments are rendered moot.
