# Assault rifle deaths per year in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assault-rifle-deaths-per-year-in-the-us/644628 "2012-12-20T14:39:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assault-rifle-deaths-per-year-in-the-us/644628/1 "2012-12-20T14:39:09Z")
Assault rifles are in the news again, as are high-capacity magazines. There’s considerable interest in banning the sale of one or both of these items, but I’m wondering what the effect would be. Questions: How many deaths per year in the US are due to assault rifles? How many deaths per year involved the use of high-capacity magazines (whether in assault rifles or any other kind of weapon)? Google is failing me; I get lots of news articles using those words, but the particular stats I seek aren’t popping up. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assault-rifle-deaths-per-year-in-the-us/644628/2 "2012-12-20T16:20:25Z")
According to this Wikipedia link: > **[Gun violence in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States)** > > Gun violence is a term of political, economic and sociological interest referring to the tens of thousands of annual firearms-related deaths and injuries occurring in the United States. In 2022, up to 100 daily fatalities and hundreds of daily injuries were attributable to American gun violence. In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics reported 38,390 deaths by firearm, of which 2 Ac... Since 1976, handguns account for over 1/2 of all homicides each year, while all other firearms account for approximately the same numnber of homicides as knives and “other methods” (see the chart in the section “Violent Crimes Related to Guns”). The “other guns” category would include shotguns and single shot rifles as well as assault rifles. According to another study I saw recently (which, of course, I can’t find now) shotguns, regular barrel and sawed off, account for the majority of the “other gun” homicides. Assault rifles accounted for less that 2% of all homicdes. I know Wiki is not always the best source, but it does match the other study. I’ll try to locate that cite. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assault-rifle-deaths-per-year-in-the-us/644628/3 "2012-12-20T17:22:55Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > How many deaths per year in the US are due to assault rifles? This question is unanswerable without defining _assault rifle_. Which isn’t, despite what every idiot pundit and fat-mouthed politician these days wants to say, defined anywhere or by anyone except in random pieces of legislation. Which is to say, it means anything you want it to mean. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assault-rifle-deaths-per-year-in-the-us/644628/4 "2012-12-20T17:48:41Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > According to another study I saw recently (which, of course, I can’t find now) shotguns, regular barrel and sawed off, account for the majority of the “other gun” homicides. A trio making robberies in Little Rock now use a sawed off shotgun and walkie talkies.