The rate of estimated violent crimes dropped slightly in 2019 compared to 2018, while the known incidences of armed citizens defending themselves with a firearm increased, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for 2019.
Violent crimes reported in the UCR include murder, rape (based on a legacy definition), robbery and aggravated assault. Together, the total of these in 2019 was about 1.2 million, with a rate of 366.7 per 100,000 people.
Of these violent crimes, the totals for murder/non-negligent manslaughter remained nearly the same for 2019 as 2018, with roughly 16,000 cases and a rate of 5 per 100,000 people.
However, while the rate of violent crimes has been declining, the FBI’s “crime clock” statistics shows that a violent crime still occurred every 26 seconds in 2019.
The number of felons fatally shot during the commission of a felony—that is, justifiable homicides by Armed Citizens—numbered 334 in the 2019 UCR, up from 317 cases in 2018. (The number of crimes prevented by the mere presence of an armed citizen remains unknown, though researchers have estimated anywhere from 80,000 to 2.5 million possible crimes deterred annually.)