The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) revealed that more than 1,000 people (1,035) died from assaults with knives or sharp instruments in 2021. That is, approximately one in every 14 homicides. This data shows the limitations of gun control as there are other means of ending the lives of others. On the 7th, in Las Vegas, an illegal immigrant killed two people and injured six others with a knife "in a matter of minutes."
Attacks with sharp objects account for 13% of all "violent crimes" in the country, behind assaults with personal weapons (26%) and handguns (20%).
More murders with knives than with rifles
The number of people killed with sharp objects has been fluctuating since 2018. Breitbart News pointed out, comparatively, the number of people stabbed versus the number of people killed by rifles:
- In 2020, a total of 454 people were killed with rifles in 2020, while 1,732 were stabbed.
- In 2019, the FBI's UCR revealed that 375 murders were caused by rifles, compared to 1,525 stabbings.
- In 2018 there was a similar finding, with more than "five times as many people stabbed to death with knives or cutting instruments" as were found dead from firearm attacks.
In conclusion, in four years, more people have been stabbed or hacked to death by machetes than have been shot by rifles. This figure opens up the controversial debate on gun control, in which rifles are included in the category of "assault weapons," as classified by Democrats, and among the most criticized when it comes to firearm regulations.
The 2021 National Gun Report concluded that a majority of citizens who own guns, 56.2%, have them for protection. One in three, 35%, carry guns with them with some frequency.
Incomplete FBI report
We are still unable to have a definitive figure for the number of homicides and other crimes in the FBI report for last year, due to a lack of data. The agency changed the way it collects crime data and for that reason, many police departments (an estimated 40%) did not add their data and some of those that did submit data were incomplete. Los Angeles and New York City are examples of those that did not report their numbers to the Federal agency.
"The overwhelming lack of law enforcement involvement poses a challenge in assessing the true state of domestic crime in the United States," said Jillian Snider, policy director of the criminal justice team at the R Street Institute.
