Gun Ownership Up, Peace Officer Deaths Down

[Skiprr]

Another set of statistics that the Brady Bunch and Moms Against Everything will undoubtedly ignore.

Today, the FBI released statistics showing that peace officer deaths by firearms in 2013 decreased 59% from 2012 (link here). In 2013, 26 officers were "feloniously killed" with firearms (one other was killed with a motor vehicle); in 2012 the number was 44; and in 2011, 63.

LE agencies identified 28 alleged assailants in connection with the felonious line-of-duty deaths in 2013. Twenty of the assailants had prior criminal arrests, and six of the offenders were under judicial supervision at the time of the killings. Shocking: it's the bad guys that do bad things.

But what will agitate the anti-gun crowd even more is what's been happening in the firearms industry. While there's no way to know the number of firearms actually sold, one reasonably good indicator of the marketplace is the number of the NICS checks conducted. Since more than one gun can be purchased in a single transaction, it's very likely that the number of NICS checks is a conservative estimate of firearm purchases.

That said, the NRA-ILA reported in 2011 that there were 16.4 million NICS background checks--then a record--for firearm purchases (link here). After averaging almost 9 million checks annually through 1995, NICS checks rose to 10 million in 1996 and climbed steadily to 14.4 million in 2010. Between 2010 and 2011, NICS checks rose 14% to 16.4 million.

Breitbart News reported this figure was surpassed by a record-setting 19.6 million NICS background checks in 2012 which, in turn, was surpassed by 21.1 million NICS background checks in 2013 (link here).

On November 10 the FBI released the general crime statistics for 2013 (link here). The violent crime rate declined 5.1 percent compared to the 2012 rate, and the property crime rate declined 4.8 percent. When considering the 5-year trend, the 2013 estimated violent crime total was 17.3% below the 2008 level. This at a time when firearm purchases have been steadily climbing...with 2013 seeing a 68.2% increase in NICS checks compared to 2010.

More guns, less crime? Could John Lott be right? Could the Soros/Bloomberg cronies possibly be wrong?

[rbwhatever1]

Awesome numbers, thanks for posting. I hope NICS checks double in the next couple years...

[louisf1]

Just another thought on the number of purchases versus NICS checks. As the number of CHL's continue to increase the more the numbers will become less accurate as a NICS check is not required for each purchase.

[jmra]

Just another thought on the number of purchases versus NICS checks. As the number of CHL's continue to increase the more the numbers will become less accurate as a NICS check is not required for each purchase.

Also important to note that those who don't have CHLs can purchase more than one gun in a transaction requiring only one NICS check. I've seen this happen on multiple occasions at gun shows.

[Jumping Frog]

Just another thought on the number of purchases versus NICS checks. As the number of CHL's continue to increase the more the numbers will become less accurate as a NICS check is not required for each purchase.

On the flip side of that, there are states like Kentucky that run every concealed handgun licensee through a NICS check every month -- yeah, that is 12 times a year -- just to make sure they are still allowed to possess guns. That distorts trying to use NICS as a proxy for gun purchases because Kentucky leads in the number of NICS checks year after year but have nowhere even close to a corresponding number of gun sales.