Impact of Assault Weapons Ban - Illustration-

[Robb]

8. Down from when, my cherry-picking friend? And where?

http://www.ojp.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/2011/BJS_PR-111611.pdf

HOMICIDES FALL TO LOWEST RATE IN FOUR DECADES

WASHINGTON – The nation’s homicide rate fell to 4.8 homicides per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2010,
its lowest level in four decades, the Bureau of Justice Statistics announced today. Much of the decline
was in the nation’s largest cities, those with a population of one million or more, where the homicide
rate dropped dramatically from 35.5 homicides per 100,000 U.S. residents in 1991 to a low of 11.9 per
100,000 in 2008.

The sharp increase in homicides from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, and much of the
subsequent decline, is attributable to gun violence by teens (age 14 to 17) and young adults (age 18 to
24). Despite the recent decline, the number of gun homicides committed by teens and young adults in
2008 remained similar to the counts of the mid-1980s.

Most murders were intraracial. From 1980 through 2008, 84 percent of white homicide victims were
murdered by whites and 93 percent of black victims were murdered by blacks. During this same period,
blacks were disproportionately represented among homicide victims and offenders. Blacks were six
times more likely than whites to be homicide victims and seven times more likely than whites to commit
homicide.

The number of homicides known to involve adult or juvenile gang violence has quadrupled since 1980,
increasing from about 220 homicides in 1980 to 960 homicides in 2008. From 1980 to 2008, gang
violence increased from one percent to six percent of all homicides. During this same period, gun
involvement in gang-related homicides increased from 73 percent to 92 percent.