Study: AR-15/AK-47 Ownership Hits All-Time High as Murders with Rifles Decline

The Crime Prevention Research Center released a study showing that while AR-15 and AK-47 ownership is at all-time highs, murders with rifles remain on the decline.

According to CPRC, the ownership of AR-15s/AK-47s increased from about 1 percent at the end of the federal “assault weapons” ban to 10.2 percent in 2025. That is roughly a tenfold increase in ownership, yet the rate for which rifles were used for murder declined from 4.8 percent in 1994 to 2.67 percent in 2025.

Ironically, the highest number of murders with rifles occurred during the time frame 1994-2004, which was when the federal “assault weapons” ban was in place.

Breitbart News previously pointed to FBI numbers to show over three and a half times as many people were stabbed to death in 2020 than were killed with all kinds of rifles combined. Moreover, FBI’s Uniform Crime Report showed over twice as many people were killed with knives and other cutting tools than were killed with rifles in 2021.

On March 8, 2025, Breitbart News pointed to PEW Research data confirming that rifles of all kinds — including those Democrats label “assault weapons” — accounted for only four percent of U.S. gun murders in 2023.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.