The Firearm Calibers Most Likely Used in Crime by State

Interesting read. The TL;DR is 9mm leads in every state (duh), usually by double-digit lead or more. What is interesting is how often .22 comes in second. But then again a ‘crime’ can be anything, doesn’t have to be an assault.

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Reading this, I feel like I’m hearing Kamala giving a talk about Ukraine and Russia.

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Reading these studies, I feel like Resident Joke Bite Me will also be banning 9mm semi-auto assault weapon handguns. :worried:

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“The 9mm designation covers a range of barrel sizes that are between 9 and 9.99 mm. … The 9mm category covers weapons that have barrel diameters of 0.35 to 0.393 inches.”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always look for the largest diameter “bullets” available to shove in, hammer in if required because this article says I can shoot 9.99mm “bullets” in my 9mm handgun :-1:

“… larger calibers can be more deadly because of their size and power.”

Of course, there is “deadly” and “more deadly”. It is “common sense” that being “more dead” is worse than just being “dead”.

The sadest part of articles like this is it is written with a lot of authority, and “most” people will believe what they have read in this article as factual. I.e., number of background checks relates directly to number of criminals with firearms, 9.99mm firearms that is.

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Looks like it was written by a gun banner wannabe who knows little about guns. Take the “… larger calibers can be more deadly because of their size and power.” statement, for example. Is a .45 more deadly than a 5.56 because of its bigger diameter? I think not. Clearly the man is clueless.

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I’m kinda surprised (not really) 5.56x45mm wasn’t included. I wonder why?

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From the title, “Firearm calibers most likely to be used in crime”, perhaps? :rofl:

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I appreciate the TL;DR.

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No, 9mm is not categorized as from 9mm to 9.99mm. If that were true, some of the other calibers that are listed would be included as 9mm - they are not. Here is the ATF 2021 Firearm trace data for the 20 highest crime firearm calibers.

Caliber TOTAL
9mm 197,634
.40 Cal 48,335
.22 Cal 35,743
.380 Cal 30,263
.45 Cal 28,640
12GA 18,989
.38 Cal 16,292
5.56mm 10,780
.357 Cal 8,422
7.62mm 8,133
Unknown 7,875
MULTI 5,483
.223 Cal 5,444
.25 Cal 4,870
.32 Cal 4,361
5.7mm 3,183
20GA 2,997
10mm 2,495
.44 Cal 1,722
.308 Cal 1,585
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These articles always bug me since I live in Wisconsin and they are ALWAYS in alphabetical order :frowning:

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Saying 9mm is used in more crime is like saying Ford F-150s are involved in more traffic accidents.

Both statements might be true (I don’t know, I haven’t looked it up). But they draw a false correlation because the 9mm and F-150 are more numerous than their competitors, by far.

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I was surprised to see 5.7 was in the list of top 20

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But a 30 round clipazine can fire 30 bullets in half a second with one pull of the trigger

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Wanna know the difference between my 9mm and my old Ford? The 9mm still runs… baadum dum. :joy:

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brian-baumgartner-badumtss

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Maybe due to the armor piercing hype…and actual ability with the 27 grain stuff that used to be around.

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Thanks for saving me a click. I just watched a WWE "wrestling: match and killed enough brain cells for today.

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Yes, but when comparing percentages, it is very low.

Caliber TOTAL Percentage
9mm 197,634 48.5%
.40 Cal 48,335 11.9%
.380 Cal 30,263 7.4%
.45 Cal 28,640 7.0%
12GA 18,989 4.7%
.38 Cal 16,292 4.0%
5.56mm 10,780 2.6%
.357 Cal 8,422 2.1%
7.62mm 8,133 2.0%
Unknown 7,875 1.9%
MULTI 5,483 1.3%
.223 Cal 5,444 1.3%
.25 Cal 4,870 1.2%
.32 Cal 4,361 1.1%
5.7mm 3,183 0.8%
20GA 2,997 0.7%
10mm 2,495 0.6%
.44 Cal 1,722 0.4%
.308 Cal 1,585 0.4%
Total 407,503
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True. But it’s right up there with Saturday night specials like 25s and 32s which surprised me. I would have thought 410 and 357 sig would have been more prevalent.

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Well, the .357 is over 2.6 times more common as the 5.7, and the .410, not surprisingly is very low. The large majority, also not surprising, are handgun calibers. Here is the full list of the ATF top calibers, 30 in total.

Caliber TOTAL %
9mm 197,634 43.7%
.40 Cal 48,335 10.7%
.22 Cal 35,743 7.9%
.380 Cal 30,263 6.7%
.45 Cal 28,640 6.3%
12GA 18,989 4.2%
.38 Cal 16,292 3.6%
5.56mm 10,780 2.4%
.357 Cal 8,422 1.9%
7.62mm 8,133 1.8%
Unknown 7,875 1.7%
MULTI 5,483 1.2%
.223 Cal 5,444 1.2%
.25 Cal 4,870 1.1%
.32 Cal 4,361 1.0%
5.7mm 3,183 0.7%
20GA 2,997 0.7%
10mm 2,495 0.6%
.44 Cal 1,722 0.4%
.308 Cal 1,585 0.4%
.30-06 Cal 1,449 0.3%
.410 Bore 1,443 0.3%
.45 Cal/.410 Bore 1,339 0.3%
.30-30 Cal 1,139 0.3%
.300 Cal 1,101 0.2%
.270 Cal 687 0.2%
.30 Cal 571 0.1%
16GA 529 0.1%
.50 Cal 506 0.1%
.243 Cal 503 0.1%
Total 452,513
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