FACT CHECK: Rep. Andy Biggs Claims More People Killed with Knives Than with Rifles

US Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) speaks during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
BILL CLARK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

CLAIM: Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), during Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence, claimed more people are killed annually with knives than are killed with rifles.

VERDICT: True.

Rep. Biggs referenced firearm homicides and said, “What this committee is not considering today–there are more homicides committed by knives or other cutting instruments than with rifles of any kind. What you’re calling ‘assault rifles,’ or anything.”

He emphasized, “More murders are committed by knives or some implement to cut people.”

“In 2019 there were 1,476 homicides by knife. There were 364 homicides by rifle,” he added. “Blunt objects, actually, clubs, hammers, etc., counted for more homicides than rifles.”

The numbers Biggs quoted can be drawn from the Uniform Crime Report released by the FBI in October 2020.

Breitbart News pointed to the report on October 8, 2020, noting, “The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for 2019 shows more than four times as many people were stabbed to death than were killed with rifles of any kind. The UCR shows 364 were killed with rifles in 2019, while 1,476 were stabbed to death with ‘knives or cutting instruments.’”

That UCR report also bolsters Biggs’ contention about blunt objects being used to kill more times than rifles.

On October 9, 2020, Breitbart News noted, “The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for 2019 shows nearly twice as many people were killed with ‘personal weapons’ like hands and fists than were killed with rifles of any kind. The UCR shows 364 were killed with rifles in 2019, while another 600 were beaten to death with hands, fists, feet, etc.”

Biggs is also correct in pointing out that the category of firearms which Democrats label “assault rifles” only constitute a fraction of the overall rifle deaths.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkinsa weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

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