Here's The Number Of Firearms Deaths In Illinois

Following the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, many Americans and news organizations have tried to shine a light on the AR-15 assault-style rifle. An analysis by The New York Times found the weapon was used to slaughter at least 173 people in mass shootings since 2007. Included were mass shootings in Newtown, Connecticut; Las Vegas and San Bernardino, California.

As America delves into yet another heated gun debate in Congress and on the internet, Patch turned to federal data and an expert to get a clearer picture of what gun violence actually looks like in America. Here’s what we found.

There were 15,070 murders in the United States in 2016, the most recent year that FBI data and gun trace information from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms were available. That includes 799 murders by firearm in Illinois in 2016.

The FBI defines “murders” as nonnegligent manslaughters and homicides. They do not include suicides and accidental shootings.

Nearly 75 percent of the country’s murders were committed using a gun, but rifles — meaning any rifle, not just AR-15s — were used in just 374 of them. That’s about 2 percent of all murders and 3 percent of all murders in which a gun was used.

Overall, more than 38,000 people died from gunshot wounds in the United States in 2016, according to preliminary mortality data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly two-thirds of those were suicides.

According to the CDC, Illinois ranked the 34th highest in the country in gun death rate with 11.7 such deaths per 100,000 residents. That’s lower than the leading states, Alaska, Alabama and Louisiana which saw the highest gun death rates at 23.3, 21.5 and 21.3, respectively.

In Illinois, guns were used in 799 murders and rifles were used in just 14 of them. A year earlier, in 2015, the state reported 1,220 total firearms-related deaths, including murders, suicides and accidents.

• Bump Stock Ban, Gun Dealer Licensing, New Firearm Laws Pass Illinois House
• Assault Weapon Sales End At Dick's Sporting Goods
• Armed Teachers: IL District Wants To Be 1st To Give Teachers Guns

Conversely, handguns, sharp objects and body parts accounted for 728, 61 and 19 murders that year in Illinois, respectively.

Data from the ATF showed there were 12,467 total guns recovered in Illinois in 2016. The vast majority, more than 9,000 of those, were handguns. Rifles accounted for 1,101 guns recovered.

The recovered guns were used in 177 killings that year and 298 aggravated assaults. They were by far recovered most often in gun cases, such as unlawful possession of a weapon.

When it comes to AR-15 rifles versus handguns, Dr. Cassandra Kercher Crifasi, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, tells Patch there are two key differences.

First, bullets fired out of an AR-15 rifle travel much faster than those from handguns, therefore the damage is significantly more devastating. Second, the assault-style weapon can be easily equipped with large capacity magazines that allow shooters to continue firing for much longer periods of time without needing to reload.

“Particularly when they’re used in mass casualty shootings, you see people are able to get off a lot of those rounds and do an extreme amount of damage compared to other types of firearms,” Crifasi says.

That being said, a handgun is generally easier to hide, she concedes.

Nationwide, the vast majority of murderers who used a gun — 64 percent — wielded a handgun. And far more murderers used knives or their own hands, fists and feet than any rifle, including — and in particular — the AR-15 rifle.

Knives and other sharp objects were used in 1604 murders that year, FBI data indicated. That’s more than four times higher than rifles. Hands, fists, feet and other body parts accounted for 656 murders — nearly double that of rifles.

Patch reporters Colin Miner and Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images