United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- Well, if Beto O’Rourke was hoping that the latest FBI crime stats would bolster his call for an Australia-style gun ban, he’s got to be feeling very disappointed. O’Rourke has been talking down to anyone who falls short of his demands for infringements – really a wholesale denial – of the right to keep and bear arms.
But the FBI has released data for 2018 which makes his push to make America like Australia on guns look like the unreasonable and arbitrary injustice that it is. And yes, injustice is the right word to use for what O’Rourke wants to do. If he gets his way on guns, he would impose a collective punishment in the form of diminished liberty on millions of Americans who committed no crime, and who are not mentally incompetent or a danger to themselves or others. If that is not a textbook example of injustice, then the word loses any meaning.
Those who are resisting that injustice, from the large pro-Second Amendment groups (NRA, GOA, SAF, Firearms Policy Coalition) to individual Second Amendment supporters, are not in the wrong when they do so. Beto O’Rourke, Michael Bloomberg, and other anti-Second Amendment extremists calling for these gun bans – or even bans on future sales – are the ones in the wrong.
The data shows that O’Rourke’s justifications are so weak that calling them flimsy overstates their strength. In fact, the latest data shows that the modern multi-purpose semi-automatic firearms he seeks to ban are very rarely misused for murder. When he paints the picture of children being gunned down by maniacs with AR-15s as an everyday occurrence, he is gaslighting the country.
Here’s the real scoop: The misuse of rifles and shotguns of any type is extremely rare.
The FBI’s newest edition of Crime in the United States reveals that in 2018, rifles of all types were used to commit 297 murders. This is a decline from 2017’s revised figure of 390 (in the 2017 edition of Crime in the United States, the FBI had initially reported 403 murders). The years 2014, 2015, and 2016 also saw the murder figures involving rifles revised. 2014’s revision saw it go down from 258 to 235. The 2015 figure went down from 258 to 215. The revision from 2016 was very stark – it went down from 378 to 300.
The figures for shotguns are even lower for 2018. Those were only used in 235 murders last year. The figures for the previous four years were also revised. The 2017 figure stayed steady at 264. The 2016 figure was revised down to 247 from 264. 2015 saw a similar revision, from 272 to 247. 2014 saw a downward revision from 264 to 238.
By comparison, let’s look at the 2018 numbers for some other weapons. Knives were used in 1,515 murders, or roughly three times the number of murders involving rifles and shotguns combined (532). What the FBI calls “personal weapons” – really fists and feet – were used in 672 murders in 2018. That’s more than rifles and shotguns combined. You’re also more likely to see a murder committed with a blunt object like a baseball bat (443 in 2018) than either a rifle or shotgun.
This trend has held for years down the line. The 1995 edition of Crime in the United States showed the rarity of rifle and shotgun use (go to page 18). In fact, rifles and shotguns are used fare less often today than they were in the early 1990s, and the number of killings have gone down as modern multi-purpose semi-automatics have become more popular – totaling at least 16 million, per the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
By comparison, Chevrolet has produced roughly 10.3 million of its Suburban SUVs over the years, based on recent sales figures and a release from the automaker. If someone thinks the Chevy Suburban is in common use, then it is quite clear that modern multi-purpose semi-automatic firearms like the AR-15 are also in common use, with all of the legal implications that come with that acknowledgment.
The numbers are there in black and white. Is it any wonder, when looking at the data, that many Americans, when subjected to the injustice of semi-auto bans in states like Connecticut, New York, and California, have chosen what amounts to civil disobedience? The federal bump stock ban’s compliance is arguably at less than one percent, according to the Washington Times.
If the facts are out there and reported in proper context, then this is not a winning issue for the likes of Beto O’Rourke. With the right strategy and tactics, keeping in mind how our approach comes across, and working hard with local media, we could get these facts out to our fellow Americans – to open the door to further educate them on our Second Amendment rights, and eventually make such bans unthinkable. The facts are on our side, we just need to ensure our fellow Americans will be willing to listen to them.
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.
Why do you perpetuate his lies by using the phony hispanic nickname. His name is Robert and he is Irish, he has as much claim to being hispanic as Lie-A-Watha does of being an American Indian.
The Anti-gun/HUMAN CONTROL groups/communists began their assault on the Defensive RIGHTS of Americans using “hand guns” as their “TARGETS”. When it DAWNED upon them that this would “NEVER” work, among Godly People, they changed their tactics and began attacking the MODERN SPORTING RIFLE – – the Armalite patterned rifle which is THE MOST POPULAR rifle in America.
“FBI Data Kills Beto’s Gun Grab Scheme” REALLY? Listen, they don’t have a plan to disarm criminals. The plan is to disarm the normally law-abiding citizens. You know, the ones that would defend the Constitution and the Rights of the citizens? They don’t care about any FBI anything unless they can use it for more propaganda. Do you expect to see that headline in ANY main stream democrat propaganda media? No. Neither do I. They want to take over the country and turn it into some leftist commie wonderland with THEM in charge as our privileged elitist rulers. They are… Read more »
Harold, the one certainty in all this is that if Boat Shoes and Bloomers get their way the number of gun related homicides WILL go way up.
Harold, Harold, Harold. Once again you miss the mark. While the stats certainly undermine Beta O’Dork’s plan, it doesn’t kill it. What kills the plan is the determination of the people to NEVER COMPLY with the gun-grabbers and RESIST TO THE UTTERMOST anyone who tries to take our guns!! A firearm is only as good as the will of the person to use it.
Harold, I like to point out that local news media in most locations is controlled by the same owners of national media. Working with local media is a good idea and should be attempted. Our ability to widely disseminate our free speech is greatly infringed by the owners of the broadcast media. Our fellow Americans are willing to listen to facts but they are not all allowed to hear the facts.
O’dork couldn’t comprehend the fact that gun deaths are down and that doesn’t fit into his program to snatch all of our guns so he can rule us like a king. A 1% king, no less.
That’s OK Harold, i am sure you can come up with another strategy to compromise away our 2A rights…
Harold is right. The facts dispute all the emotional drama spewed by the left, but we can’t get it into the ears and heads of the general voting public. Just try to get this latest piece of news into the broadcast news. Since 1999 population has grown in the U.S. by 20%, and gun owning households grown from 39% to 43%. There are now 140 million gun owners in the U.S. with 100 times as many firearms as the U.S. military. Yet violent crime has dropped steadily since 1999. According to the CDC, citizens with firearms stop or prevent crimes… Read more »
“….ensure our fellow Americans will be willing to listen to them.” That, me friends, is the “rub!” The anti-gun, foaming at the mouth, confiscators are NOT interested in listening. Feinstein’s “Assault Rifle Ban” in the ’90s was proven to be totally ineffective at having an impact on crime/murder/whatever. Those revealing stats, published when the 10 year sunset cancelled the idiocy, were that ‘less’ than one tenth of one percent of all crimes were affected by that ban. Not schooled in any “New Math,” my old math says that 1/10 of 1 percent (.01) = 0.001! Still cornfused, boys and girls?… Read more »