The latest crime statistics gathered by the FBI show that more than twice as many people were murdered with knives than rifles and shotguns combined.
This fact of course shoots a big hole (no pun intended) in the anti-gun crowd’s argument that the United States would be so much safer if AR-15s and other so-called “assault weapons” were banned.
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report released Monday shows that 454 people were killed with rifles of all types and another 203 were killed by shotguns.
Together they totaled 657 murders.
Meanwhile, 1,732 were killed by knives or cutting instruments.
New 2020 murder data from the FBI:
-454 murders by rifle
-657 murders by fists and feet
-1732 murders by knivesBAN ASSAULT FISTS! BAN ASSAULT FEET! BAN ASSAULT KNIVES!!!!!
— Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) September 29, 2021
Most murders — over 8,000 — were carried out using handguns.
In a Monday news release, the FBI said the homicide rate was up almost 30 percent in 2020 from 2019.
That marks the highest jump in a year since the bureau began collecting the data in 1960, according to The New York Times.
“The previous largest one-year change was a 12.7 percent increase in 1968,” the Times reported. “The F.B.I. data shows almost 5,000 more murders last year than in 2019, for a total of around 21,500.”
MURDER UP 30% –FBI
How does the Biden Administration handle it?
Try to dismantle the Second Amendment
Undermine the police
Bail out violent rapists & murderers
Joe still has 1,211 days left in office. Arm yourselves.
— NRA (@NRA) September 27, 2021
It’s interesting that both 1968 and 2020 were volatile election years marked by massive protests, devolving at times into full-on riots.
Jarrett Stepman of The Daily Signal pointed out that the murder rate in 2020 didn’t start to rise until the summer, following the death of George Floyd.
“While there certainly could be a variety of factors involved in the murder surge, it’s hard not to see both the efforts to defund the police and — perhaps more importantly — the ‘Minneapolis Effect,’ as driving factors,” he wrote.
FBI statistics show a 30% increase in murder in 2020.
More evidence that defunding police wasn’t a good idea. https://t.co/Tf3soNZL89
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) September 30, 2021
“Following Floyd’s death, many cities hopped aboard the ‘defund the police’ movement. Los Angeles, Baltimore, Seattle, Chicago, Portland, and Minneapolis went through with this idea, often stripping millions of dollars out of their police budgets and directing them toward other social services,” Stepman added.
He also pointed to the more lenient policies adopted by progressive prosecutors as a reason for the surge in violent crime.
That correlation makes a lot more sense than gun ownership, as Democrats love to argue as they push for new gun control measures.
Gun grabbing Joe Biden calls on Congress to ban “assault weapons.”
REMINDER: When Democrats like Biden push for an “assault weapon” ban, they want to ban commonly owned semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15. pic.twitter.com/K0EMujxbMc
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 23, 2021
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board argued in a Tuesday opinion piece that it is “no coincidence that the bloodshed increased as cities slashed police budgets, progressive prosecutors demanded leniency and eliminated bail for criminals, and jails and prisons released thousands of lawbreakers amid the Covid-19 outbreak.”
One takeaway from all of this is that the ability to murder is certainly not contingent on people getting a hold of an AR-15 or any other gun. It is a heart matter.
Good tough-on-crime policies and policing help prevent murders, not banning guns.
Here is a chart of American gun ownership and American murder rate. Please explain how more guns inevitably means more murder. pic.twitter.com/TVOJZe2BTi
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 3, 2017
The FBI statistics prove that even if Democrats banned and confiscated every gun, people would use knives, clubs or even their bare fists to commit murder.
The purpose of government is to adopt and enforce policies that make people fear the consequences to themselves for such conduct.
Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul wrote, “[R]ulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good.”
“But if you do wrong, be afraid,” Paul added, “for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”
Government is to protect law-abiding citizens and to punish criminals.
Democrats seem to have it the other way around right now.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
