Gun Control Statistics – Straight Facts – Is Gun Violence & Murder Increasing or Decreasing?

by daydull · Published January 16, 2013 · Updated March 2, 2023

Gun Violence and a public push for a debate on new gun control laws is a hot topic, especially after even more recent shootings. I was interested in what the actual, unbiased statistics were as far as how many gun related murders are committed each year in the United States. I did my own digging around on the FBI’s website for violent crimes here: Crime in the United States – FBI Statistics

The result might be shocking to some of the people raising an outcry, and especially to the media who seems to be covering the issue nonstop.

The Straight Statistics:

1995: 16,305 murders involving firearms (a 46.3% increase compared to 1985)

2007: 10,129 murders involving firearms (out of 14,916 murders total)

2011: 8,583 murders involving firearms (out of 12,664 murders total)

Results: Murders involving firearms have dropped by 50% in the last 15 years roughly. They have also been steadily decreasing a substantial amount each year over the past 5 years.

The Media

The real issue here could be seen as the media. Media exposure in our daily lives and fast online social communication of media coverage is currently making every issue into a far bigger deal than it would have seemed in the past. This quickly leads to more people taking more actions and taking more action than ever before. This applies to all issues, not just gun control, and could very well be a good thing in many cases. However it is important for us to always consider the facts, rather than go off of what we hear on a 15 second news snippet.

You be the judge on what to do with this information, and please feel free to check these stats and also share any other interesting ones you may find.

And let’s be clear, even one death is too many.

Tags: crime gun control guns homicides murders violence

Kaitlyn says:
February 15, 2013 at 9:07 am
But does that really change the fact that it does happen and we should try to help prevent those 8,583 from happening. Just because people are getting smart and starting to change the way people are killed doesn’t mean that stopping guns from being made might not help. it will help and i believe that it is possible to help those people who are killing others come to justice
Albright says:
February 15, 2013 at 11:23 am
The main point being made was that mainstream media is ~~implying~~ flat out stating that gun violence is an increasing epidemic that is out of control. However a quick look at the statistics show that it is well under control, not increasing at all, and is actually decreasing very significantly. Its blatantly inaccurate to be throwing around words like “epidemic” yet all the major news stations are doing it.
It’s important to keep the actual real world facts in mind when debating an issue.
Uncle T says:
February 20, 2013 at 12:00 pm
I agree with Albright and the influence the media has on the thought process of our population. Just look at the last election.
I suggest that there are more deaths from obesity than those from an “Assault Weapon”.
I would like to know what percentage of the 8,583 persons were killed by assault weapons. My feeling is that it is a very low percentage – guessing less than 3%. Therefore, if my percentage is even close, there were 97% or 8,326 people who were killed with other than an assault weapon. Since the assault weapon percentage is significantly lower than other forms of murders by a weapon would it not make since to protest other forms of guns than the assault weapon if you have to have an argument against guns at all.
Look at the number of people killed by drunk drivers yet we have not banned alcohol or cars. We have not discussed banning knives, clubs or baseball bats, ropes for strangling, or poisons.
What makes anti-2nd Amendment activist believe that people who are prone to kill someone that any type of law or weapons ban will stop them from getting any type of weapon they want? They do that now! Only the law abiding citizens will have yet another gun law to deal with – not the killer.
mickey says:
February 22, 2013 at 2:19 pm
Did anyone ever think that some of what the media tells us today is unpredictable and just plain stupid I mean come on even if the government really was going to ban “Assault Weapons’ they could not succeed without first getting rid of the weapons that are already on the streets in order to make said plan fully succesful.
Sam says:
March 7, 2013 at 9:53 am
We have a lot lower violent crime rate than Britain
Conciousnconnected says:
March 10, 2013 at 10:20 am
For the love of peace how is this even open for discussion? Theres more people killed with hammers than assault weapons so its only logical they take my hammers first! Not to mention the constitutional issues! Read what our founding fathers said about the right to bear arms! It wasn”t to hunt… if ya didn’t hunt you died… it was to protect us from tyrannical government PERIOD!!! While I often times give my government the benefit of the doubt I can’t help but wonder why the DHS has purchased bullet proof checkpoints and enough hollow point bullets to put 3 in every american! WHY? Ya don’t use hollow points for target practice… too expensive… so why??? Finally I would like to point out that historically speaking gun confiscation has not gone well for the people… just do some due diligence other than official propaganda news sources and you will at the very least come up with many questions! I may be wrong but I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said ” When the government fears the people you have liberty, when the people fear the government you have tyranny! The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is as a last resort to protect themselves against tyranny from government!” Not to mention what that Japanese general said during WWII about whether or not it was possible to invade america… his response was that it was impossible cause there was a rifle behind every blade of grass!!! I respectfully submit this to all true americans of our great republic not the american corporation that was usurped by international bankers in 1913!!! 1love
chris jarve says:
July 8, 2013 at 3:55 pm
In 2009, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 66.9% of all homicides in the United States were perpetrated using a firearm.[5] Two-thirds of all gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides. In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicide deaths, and 11,078 firearm-related homicide deaths in the United States.[6]
Steven says:
August 13, 2019 at 1:42 am
I looked at the FBI crime reports you linked to and calculated the murders by firearm per 100,000 Americans:
1995: 6.13
2000: 3.01
2005: 3.41
2010: 2.84
2015: 3.05
2017: 3.36
If you want to look at the last 15 years, murder rates from 2017 are almost identical to murder rates in 2002.