Study: Criminals Prefer Handguns Over 'Assault Rifles'

According to the “Geneva-based research project Small Arms Survey” the guns that U.S. police seize “from gang members, felons, and drug traffickers in the U.S.” are handguns 77 percent of the time and rifles of any sort–including “assault rifles”–less than 12 percent of the time.

Reuters published excerpts from the study, which looked at gun seizures “from 2002 to 2012” in cities that included Los Angeles and Washington DC.

“Less than 12 percent of the confiscated weapons were rifles.” The number of “machine guns, submachine guns” and related weapons was so small it was listed as “negligible.” 

The study’s Keith Krause said the findings contrast with the way “criminal firearm use is often depicted in popular culture, with TV shows, movies, and songs depicting scenes of gang members and drug dealers spraying automatic assault rifles, leading to a warped public perception of gun violence.”

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