It is frustrating that the study doesn’t break down that 6.8/9.3% “military-style semiautomatic” figure into handgun, shotgun, and rifle subcategories, and only lists the figures for all handguns, all shotguns, and all rifles (military-style semiautomatic or not) combined.
However, despite the fact that most criminals’ weapons of chcoice are handguns, I’d be willing to bet that the majority of those “military-style semiautomatics” they claimed to be carrying when they committed their crimes were rifles, not handguns. I just don’t see the TEC-9 as being popular enough. Maybe that’s my own prejudice talking, but I don’t think the percentage of handguns used as a whole is representative of the percentage of “military-style semiautomatics” used that were handguns.
tracer: Maybe, maybe not. Still, even if military-style rifles are overrepresented relative to the use of rifles by criminals overall, the percentage of crimes utilizing military-style rifles will nonetheless be some figure less than the 6.8/9.3% total figure (unless, of course, rifles make up 100% of the military-style weapons used in criminal acts). Minty’s posts make it sound as though that figure includes nothing but the rifles he dreads so much, which just isn’t the case.
And my gut instinct is a little different from yours. The Tec-9 has been a popular criminal’s weapon since Miami Vice baddies toted it on-screen in the mid-1980s. It is, IIRC, very popular with street gangs because of the image it projects. And of course it was the weapon of choice at Columbine High School. Indeed, my recollection of the passage of the AWB involved more screaming over criminal use of the Tec-9 than any other weapon.