Guns used over 300X more often to stop crime than to kill, according to past studies The new crime statistics released by the agency reveal that out of 11,961 murders performed within the U.S. in 2014, 660 were committed unarmed, 1,567 were committed with knives and only 248 murders were known to have been committed using rifles of any type, including single-shot long arms and “assault rifles” routinely demonized by gun control groups.
Granted, the FBI did list 2,052 murders under “unknown firearm type,” but given the percentages of the known firearm categories, it is unlikely that more than four percent of the “unknown firearms” were in fact rifles, and less than that were semi-automatics.
In other words, despite the calls to ban “military-style assault rifles” by anti- gun groups, conservatively less – and likely much less – than four percent of murders were committed using AR-15s, AK-47s and other semi-automatic long arms.
This figure is a decrease from 2013.
In comparison, AR-15s are used far less often in murders than shotguns, a fact which contradicts Vice President Joe Biden who once implied otherwise.
That isn’t that surprising considering the recent study by the University of Chicago Crime Lab which revealed that AR-15s and AK-47s are unpopular amongst criminals.
Overall the number of murders involving guns has plunged from 8,855 in 2012 to 8,454 in 2013 and now 8,124 in 2014, following a significant decline in gun- related violent crimes since the mid-1990s.
Click for Full Text!