Fewer murders by weapon from 2007 to 2011 in the US

• Nut graph

Data shows that there have been almost 25% fewer murders by weapon from 2007 to 2011 in the US. In 2007 the number of murders by weapon in the US was 14.916 and in 2011 this number has decreased to 12.664.

At the same time in the US and in Europe there is massive focus on the US easygoing weapon legislation, the increasing school shootings etc.

That give us an image of a growing problem not a decreasing one.

In several polls we also see that Americans believe that the number of murders are increasing – even though the opposite is actually the case.

• Why do we care?

25% is a pretty significant number. And this decrease has happened even though we don’t hear about stricter gun legislation. So why is this the reality? Has there been more legislation than we hear about – or is the reason for the drop another?

It is a positive development that most people don’t recognize, because they don’t know, that this is in fact the reality – so just to tell the story is important. Also to figure out what the US is doing right, so the development can continue like this – is another good reason to care.

• Sources to contact

Official spokesman

National Institute of Justice

http://www.nij.gov/about/pages/contact.aspx

Daniel Webster, ScD

Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research

http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy-and-research/

http://www.jhsph.edu/faculty/directory/profile/3845/daniel-webster

Law Center to prevent Gun Violence

http://smartgunlaws.org/about-gun-laws/

Polls that shows that the Americans actually believe, that the numbers are increasing.

• Description and link to the data

The data is from the FBI – posted August 2013. These are the latest numbers.

The data shows the number of homicides by year broken down by weapon type. You can download the data in Excel.

https://www.quandl.com/data/FBI/WEAPONS11-US-Murders-by-Weapon-Type-2007-2011