The Facts About Rifles and Crime

AR15 Semi Auto Assault Weapon Black Rifles
AR15 Semi Auto Assault Weapon Black Rifles

United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- When it comes to our Second Amendment rights, one major flashpoint seems to be over the modern multi-purpose semiautomatic firearms, particularly the AR-15. Now, for those of us who are familiar with Justice Department statistics, we know that rifles are rarely used in murders – in fact, you’re more at risk from fists and feet – 696 to 403 in 2017, the last full year of stats available at this writing.

In fact, the total number of people killed by rifles of ALL types (not just the AR-15 that people like Beto O’Rourke and Eric Swalwell are demanding people be ready to turn in) for the last five years is less than the total number of people killed by knives in 2017 alone (1,582 to 1,591). Tell that to an average American in normal circumstances, and they’d come away with a clear sense that the AR-15 is not the problem.

So why are anti-Second Amendment extremists getting so much mileage from proposals to ban the AR-15? Well, the reason is that mass shootings in public, like those in El Paso and Dayton, get a lot of media coverage. Why? Because they are rare. Recent research by the Crime Prevention Research Center shows that there were 71 such shootings from 1998 through June of 2019. Now, anti-Second Amendment extremists try to mess around with the definition, but CPRC uses the FBI’s definition.

The fact is basic journalism tenets do call for rare events to get a lot of coverage. As I learned in middle school journalism class, “Dog bites man” is not a story, but “man bites dog” is newsworthy. Then, there is also another one, less discussed in middle school and high school, but you probably have heard of “If it bleeds, it leads.”

The fact is, in many of the worst mass shootings, like Las Vegas, Newtown, Parkland, and elsewhere, the weapon used is an AR-15 or some similar rifle. It is also rare, as the CPRC research shows. According to their data on mass shootings in public places, the weapon most of the shooters use is a handgun, either on its own, or in conjunction with a long gun. Rifles are involved in one way or another with 28 percent of mass shootings. With handguns, it’s 87 percent. (The figures add up to more than 100 percent because some of the mass shooters will use more than one weapon.)

So, there is “newsworthiness” in those shootings, and under normal journalistic standards, they would generate an outsized amount of coverage. But we are dealing with a national media that outside of some outlets like Fox News, generally imposes double standards to the benefit of anti-Second Amendment extremists.

Some of that is due to the specifics of the victims and other items. In Newtown, most of the victims were six-year-old kids. That would grab a lot of attention – and rightly so. We all were horrified. Second Amendment supporters, though, had to shift gears mentally to defend themselves from the injustices President Obama wanted to inflict upon millions of law-abiding American for that act of madness which they had nothing to do with. Thankfully, the NRA and other pro-Second Amendment groups managed to defeat Obama’s effort.

However, the real problem is that with media complicity, anti-Second Amendment extremists have managed to paint a picture that is at odds with the facts for the purpose of frightening millions of Americans into unjustly infringing on the rights of fellow Americans. This has been a campaign going back three decades, egged on by Josh Sugarmann, who urged that anti-Second Amendment extremists exploit confusion and the cosmetic features of rifles like the AR-15 to advance the assault on our rights.

Beating back this assault will not be easy. Already we have seen Beto O’Rourke push corporate gun control, particularly the financial blacklisting of gun manufacturers that do not embrace the anti-Second Amendment agenda he is pushing. But if Second Amendment supporters can lay out the facts in a manner that comes across well, they will have a fighting chance.


Harold Hu, chison

About Harold Hutchison

Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.

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Vince

We don’t have a gun problem, we have a mass media problem.

Dave in Fairfax

Will, While I understand what you are saying, and in a perfect world you’d be right, you and Harold are making the same mistake.

You’re both expecting rational behavior from people who aren’t.
Harold thinks that a rational argument will sway an irrational person.
You are standing on a principle that the enemy ignores.

Having a Constitution, with a BoR isn’t enough if your enemy will not abide by it, and is either ignoring or is actively engaged in altering it.

Dave in Fairfax

Will, We are on the same page. The conclusion is unfortunately correct. The 2A and the BoR SHOULD be the end of the discussion. I anticipate increased lawlessness on the part of the Left – including the Democrat government officials, with a large scale violent result, eventually.

Wild Bill

@Dave in Fairfax, I hope that the libtards do engage in large scale violence during a time of a strong conservative administration. Two things could happen: The soccer mom crowd will realize the truth about the democrat socialists, and we might get a chance to help “restore order”!

Dave in Fairfax

Wild Bill, It will be ugly. I believe it was Jefferson who said that it was necessary to flush the loo every now and then.

BowserB

Wild Bill, I’ve been among soccer moms at a granddaughter’s soccer games, and unfortunately overheard some of their conversations. Believe me, they are not from our planet. Their concerns and desires are so unimportant and irrelevant that they redefine unimportant and irrelevant. To get their attention, you’d have to pour cement into their swimming pools and take away their BMW’s and passports. By the time they’re affected by the socialists’ plans, it will be too late for us all. Just an opinion.

PMinFl

DING DING another winner GCM. On a serious note we can explain that (envision this) bullets are the teeth of the constitution! Think about that a visual that even poorly educated millennials could understand.

Fred Lead

That’s why the left wants to “reevaluate” the Second Amendment, going so far as to threaten the Supreme Court. That’s why this inane gibberish argument that the Second Amendment was created to suppress slave revolts in the South (long before there was a South) has been circulating like tabloids. They’re losing on all fronts and keep trying desperately to destroy legal gun culture at every turn.

Tionico

Even Joltin’ Koe Biden came out in the debates and threw the COnstitution into Horizonta; Harris’ ugly mug when she brazenly declared SHE would issue an EO within the first hindred days i office demanding all “scary” rifles be surrendered to the government. Joe said that she would not have the authority to do that, as that’s the job of COngress per the Constitution… so you “can’t do that”. Her wretched response? Well, let’s stop saying “we can’t do that’ and start saying “yes we can do that”. Not eligivble anyway, wonder when someone will call her on that one……… Read more »

Wild Bill

@Harold, You write, “… , “Dog bites man” is not a story, but “man bites dog” is newsworthy. Then, there is also … “If it bleeds, it leads.”” First, Those are what have been wrong with journalism in America for two hundred years, and teaching those tenets don’t make it right.
Second, American journalism has gone way beyond what you were taught. American journalists just make stuff up. It is all lies at worst, and agenda driven twisted truth, at best.

hippybiker

Then, the lame piss stream media lets a worthless piece of crap like Cory Booker get away with the lie that there is a mass shooting everyday in this country, and the Sheeple lap it up!

Link

Technically speaking he is right, but it’s not with rifles but with handguns and most times its criminal gang members shootings.
But that does not fit thr anti-gun people narrative.

Tionico

NO WAY is this correct. “Mass shooting”, per FBI defintiion, the one stated and used in this piece above, means FOUR of more DEAD not including the perpetrator, on ONCE incident.
So y can’t take Chicago, and report “mass shooting” every day, when one incident ofs two, another three, and four dozen only one. When NONE of those incidents total FOUR of more dead excluding the perp, it is NOT a “mass shootin”

Words have meaning, and meaning has consequances.

Stop lying , troll!!!!

PMinFl

The gangbangers in Chiraq better step up their game to become popular with the democrats.

Fred Lead

Don’t forget the number one child killer: pools. If it saves just one life (TM).

wolfzatDawn

I’d rather see a prominent GOP politician saying this rather than in ammoland.com.

BowserB

Like Donald J. Trump, for example?

Dave in Fairfax

WAD, So would I but they’re gonadally impaired, as well as morally challenged.

Nosh Itsherlock

Cruz is stand-up.

Firewagon

I’m fairly sure it was that “too many guns, too easily available” whack Juan Williams, among others, that keep spewing that the “assault rifle ban” ‘saved lives,’ and/or reduced crime! NOBODY attempts to correct them with the simple, proven, facts after that 10 year rifle ban ended in ’03/’04. That “fact” being, over that ten year span, less than 1/10th of one percent (.001) of ALL crimes were affected by that ban! That is .1 of every 100 crimes – from the use of ANY rifle, forget what the number would be for that dastardly, scary, AR! Wut, did some… Read more »

Dr. Strangelove

Let’s face it, the Fudds won’t say a word until their bird and deer guns are taken, and then it’ll be too late.

Dave in Fairfax

Dr S, They probably won’t say anything with a mouthful. OTOH, things may happen before their FUDD sticks are threatened. Events aren’t always as linear as they are perceived. Multiple threads happen at the same time.

Tionico

well in MY state a lot of “fudd guns” are already labelled “assault weapons” along with my Ruger 10/,22. ANY semiautomatic rifle…… yup. BlooomingIdiotBurg bought us that one last year.

Firewagon

Anybody with a modicum of ‘common sense’ actually still reside in NY? Like CA, elections should be run like our presidential one, by Electoral College. NYC, LA, SF, ad nauseam, will always rule out the ‘common sense’ folk! When one or two cities make the entire state reek of incompetence and filth, they need other means of being controlled….

MICHAEL J

The media is in lockstep with politicians and bureaucrats when it comes to reporting mistruths. How can anyone believe a word they say?

Miket

If we can’t convince gun owners to get out and support the 2nd amendment, how will we ever change a non-gunowners mind.

Wild Bill

@Miket, Gun fun that is how! We have to convince the gun owners to get out and vote. It is just my opinion, but I think that if we make gun games, gun contests, gun shows,and gun ranges fun and not intimidating then we can get them out to vote, too. Kids love to be treated like adults so take kids to the range, take kids hunting, invite kids and their parents to the barbecue and treat them all like adults expected to observe gun safety. Work hard to make things fun for them. Grandpa and Grandma on the farm… Read more »

Fred Lead

That’s really the crux of the fight. It’s all about culture. The anti-gun side has talked about and fought against the historically positive gun culture for decades. Their long game is to make guns unappealing so they won’t have to do any work at all to get rid of them. The problem is, private firearm ownership represents and protects the individual right to life and that never becomes unappealing. As much fun as firearms can be the greater purpose cannot be lost.

BowserB

I’m not sure we can change the minds of non-gun owners. I’ve spoken to many of them. Their eyes gloss over, and they immediately tune me out. And I’m not a boring speaker (even though I may be boring here…we had a hard time finding a replacement for me as president of my club, because I was “too hard an act to follow.”) So yes, gun owners have got to realize that yes THEIR guns are part of the left’s disarmament plan. The one thing that might get their minds open would be to take a [willing] non-shooter to a… Read more »

Fred Lead

My church had a couples range event and I talked to a young couple. They had fun and I asked the husband if he was ready to buy a firearm of his own. He said he didn’t want to own a gun because he didn’t want it to be stolen. That was pretty odd, do they not buy a TV because they don’t want it to be stolen? I asked how it could be stolen if he carried it and he said he could never hurt anyone. I asked even if someone were attacking him or his wife and he… Read more »

Wild Bill

@Bowser, Invite one or two libtard friends to a barbecue with friends. Free food, and a pretty pistol will get them asking. The most dangerous weapon that we have against libtard, gun grabbing culture is pulled pork!

jack mac

All citizens should be aware that it is their rights that are being infringed and threatened regardless if they exercise these rights. It is bad enough that people are willing to deny rights to others, but those will to deny rights to themselves as well as others is worst.

Firewagon

That is ‘our’ issue. With over 100 million gun owners in America, how do we have ANY anti-gun whack dealing their agenda in our government? Because, barely 50% of people eligible to vote, in the country, bother to get off their hands and vote! It is also the reason America has LOST the culture war, over these past fifty-odd years….

Fred Lead

Pro-gun and pro-rights individuals are statistically far more politically involved than their political adversaries. It’s not that they are not voting, it’s that they don’t vote in the districts that elect these anti-gun politicians because they don’t live there. Those areas are densely populated, which is where the “most Americans” extrapolation comes from that fuels baseless claims, and mostly left-leaning people want to live in dense urban areas. Most Americans don’t support anything when you poll one city in one region of the country and extrapolate. Those areas also happen to be where the majority of crimes are committed as… Read more »

Nosh Itsherlock

Yet here we are at Ammoland and the headline and picture shout “assault weapon”. WTF? You use the leftist trope against us? What’s wrong with this writer?

2WarAbnVet

Despite all the hoopla over “mass shootings” rifles are involved in a small percentage of all firearm deaths.
It would appear that these attempts to ban rifles that “look mean” is an attempt to use media scare tactics to go after the “low hanging fruit” in the left’s unending struggle to incrementally disarm law-abiding American citizens, putting them at the non-existent mercy of criminals and all-powerful government.

Tionico

OhHarold, you muffed it once more. Sign… come ONNNNnnn, man, wake up!! You came SO CLOSE but scored a perfect miss.. not even on paper, let alone anywhere near the tenring. Your comment about the press, and they do what they do to “sell newspapers”, Hah!!!! Maybe when your parents were kids…. but not any more. The media, all of it, are lapdogs and Steppinfetchits for their handlers, the ones with the moneystrings so firmly attached to those media outlets. They are’t trying to sell newspapers, they are working to keep their troughs filled with the money from the stringpullers.… Read more »

a.x. perez

“…Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2019/09/the-facts-about-rifles-and-crime/#ixzz5zYbaeoc5
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Follow us: @Ammoland on Twitter | Ammoland on Facebook

“…if Second Amendment supporters can lay out the facts in a manner that comes across well, they will have a fighting chance…”
Have you never heard someone say “I know the truth, don’t confuse me with facts?

tomcat

Harold,you did it again. You wrote about being nice to liberals and you garnered a large comment section. Your advice is not very useful against the progressive crowd but your article sure does get people’s attention. The comments probably make you cry all the way to the bank.

Fred Lead

If gun control positions don’t seem to make sense it’s because they have to walk a tightrope. There are many constraints; public support, Supreme Court rulings, creating a narrative that is “slogan simple”, believable, and difficult to fact check outside the silo. Handguns are protected because of their self-defense utility, according to the Supreme Court, even in gun-control bastions like Chicago and DC now. “Traditional” hunting guns are considered safe. The AR-15 is targeted because it is publicized as a problem, despite having a very low rate of misuse and there being dozens of identically functioning firearm designs that are… Read more »

Deplorable Bill

Know the truth and the truth will make you free. The LORD himself said to be armed, Luke 22:36, that’s good enough for me. Further it is written into law as our constitution, bill of rights and amendments. When the media and the demoncraps resort to lies, as usual for as long as I have cared to look and listen, there is no defending them. You cannot reason with someone who’s goal is to end your life or righteous way of life. You can all but bet this mess will get down to voting with rifles See 1775 at Concord,… Read more »

a.x. perez

“..Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2019/09/the-facts-about-rifles-and-crime/#ixzz5zYbaeoc5
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Follow us: @Ammoland on Twitter | Ammoland on Facebook

if Second Amendment supporters can lay out the facts in a manner that comes across well, they will have a fighting chance.

Heed the Call-up

All we have are facts and our Constitution on our side. What we do not have is the emotional rants of these Leftists. They do not care about facts, laws, or our Constitution. You cannot use logic, facts, and reason with someone that is dispossessed of those attributes.

Random guy from Texas

The way things are today reminds of the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies where the news mogul uses his media empire to try and start a war with the US and China (he has a news article already written for the next day and then blows up a sub after I believe), but the news media of today use their powers or what have you to cause divisiveness between the people of the US on every issue that they can (I.e., firearms, immigration, Muslims, war, etc..) and people, especially the left, eat it up. It’s life imitating art… Read more »

CaptainKerosene

The ultimate reason for the Second Amendment is the ability of the citizens to band together and restrain bad government.
Trying to sound better the AR is called a Modern Sporting Rifle in hopes that it would be left alone.
Since the anti-hunters don’t want animals killed that is a trap. Also, the DOJ/ATF has ruled many guns have no acceptable sporting use. Formal target shooting is questionable and plinking doesn’t count.

MSR means MILITIA STANDARD RIFLE and the 1939 SCOTUS and even Justice Scala seem to understand that without the courage to say so in plain words.

Wild Bill

@CK, You have your finger on the pulse. The sporting purpose test in the GCA is the Unconstitutional thread, when pulled, will unravel the entire GCA.

Heed the Call-up

Colt originally sold the AR-15 as a sporting rifle, because it is a sporting rifle – back in 1963, well before the anti-rights insanity on firearms. The low-powered, small-bore, .223 cal. is not allowed for hunting deer in most states because of those specs. They require a more powerful round to ensure the quick kill. Having no sporting use is irrelevant to our natural, inalienable RKBA, and as you stated, the 1939 SCOTUS ruling specifically stated arms that have military use are specifically protected by our federal 2A. What they got wrong in that ruling was that a “sawed-off”, short-barreled… Read more »

USMC0351Grunt

MSR means WHAT? We in the military, especially in the English speaking western hemisphere don’t think so!

https://www.acronymfinder.com/Military-and-Government/MSR.html

Quit making shit up!

Wild Bill

@Grunt, Main Supply Route. As a lieutenant, I got yelled at, in front of everybody, by a really pissed off colonel for blocking his MSR! It is funny now!