Crime numbers and a news species

Under the current federal administration, a more favorable approach to gun control has finally begun. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) have recently rescinded 34 different regulations regarding firearms. These changes will make gun ownership for private citizens and dealing in firearms for federally licensed dealers easier with more clearly stated rules and will involve less onerous paperwork for everyone involved.

However, the new thrust toward gun control is coming through state legislatures across the country. For example, the state of Virginia has just passed a fleet of gun control measures which would, among other things, makes the future sale, manufacture, import, purchase, or transfer of certain (so called) “assault firearms” (long-guns), defined by certain semi-automatic features, illegal.

According to a recent article I found online, “The latest FBI homicide weapons data shows that knives and other cutting instruments killed far more people in America in 2024 than rifles of any kind. According to the FBI’s Expanded Homicide Data Table 8, rifles were used in 401 murders nationwide in 2024. By comparison, knives or cutting instruments were used in 1,566 murders. That’s nearly four times as many.”

Continuing, “The FBI report covers murders reported through law enforcement agencies nationwide and breaks down homicides by weapon type from 2020 through 2024. While firearms overall remained the leading weapon category in homicides, handguns accounted for most gun-related killings. In 2024, handguns were used in 6,246 murders, while rifles accounted for just a small fraction of firearm homicides. The data also shows a broad decline in murders nationwide.”

The report goes on to specify that “Total homicides fell from 18,624 in 2023 to 15,795 in 2024. Firearm-related murders also dropped significantly, from 14,069 to 11,717. Long-gun homicides have remained comparatively low and stable for years. The FBI recorded 490 rifle murders in 2020, 464 in 2021, 570 in 2022, 533 in 2023, and 401 in 2024.”

In contrast, knife killings consistently outpaced rifle killings every year in the five-year dataset: 2020: 1,806 knife killings vs. 490 rifle killings; 2021: 1,223 knife killings vs. 464 rifle killings; 2022: 1,720 knife killings vs. 570 rifle killings; 2023: 1,638 knife killings vs. 533 rifle killings; and finally, for the last year complete data has been compiled, 2024: 1,566 knife killings vs. 401 rifle killings.

The FBI numbers also show that “personal weapons,” meaning hands, fists, and feet, killed more people in 2024 than rifles did. The category accounted for 633 murders. Blunt objects such as clubs and hammers were used in 283 murders in 2024, while shotguns accounted for 149.

If the Virginia legislators are so concerned about public safety, maybe they should look at banning knives, hands, feet, fists, hammers, and other blunt objects!

On the hunting front, two species of big game which are expanding their range into Alaska (Southeast), were documented recently but are still quite rare. Both are legal to harvest or will be in a few months (by August 1, 2026).

According to a Fish and Game publication, “Mule deer are expanding their range beyond western Canada into Alaska, and in mid-April a hunter harvested a mule deer near Skagway. This is the first report of a mule deer harvested anywhere in Alaska. Mule deer and white-tailed deer are found in the Lower 48 and Canada but were not historically known to be in Alaska.”

“Mule deer are the larger “cousins” of the Sitka black-tailed deer native to Southeast Alaska (black-tailed deer are a subspecies of mule deer). The smaller deer colonized coastal Alaska several thousand years ago as the glaciers receded, and in territorial days, people introduced these deer to Prince William Sound, Kodiak Island, Yakutat, and a few other areas of Alaska with varying degrees of success.”

“In the past century mule deer and white-tailed deer have expanded their ranges north and west in Canada. Agriculture, climate change, roadbuilding, and wildlife management practices all helped these deer to increase in numbers and access new areas, and in recent decades they’ve been documented in parts of Alaska.”

The other species which will soon be legal to hunt are mountain lions. A different F&G article states, “Two mountain lions were documented in Southeast Alaska in recent years. In April 2025, an adult male was caught in a wolf snare on Kuiu Island; and in June 2024, a hunter opportunistically killed a young male on a Wrangell Island Beach. Two similar incidents occurred in the same general area in 1989 and 1998.”

For more information, contact Fish and Game.