Reports: Gun Homicides Down Since 1990s

A pair of reports show that gun homicides have dropped steeply since their 1993 peak, adding fuel to Congress' battle over restricting firearms.

A study released Tuesday by the government's Bureau of Justice Statistics found that gun-related homicides dropped from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011. That's a 39 percent reduction.

Another report by the private Pew Research Center found a similar decline by looking at the rate of gun homicides, which compares the number of killings to the size of the country's population. It found that the number of gun homicides per 100,000 people fell from 7 percent in 1993 to 3.6 percent in 2010, a drop of nearly half.

Both reports also found the rate of non-fatal crimes involving guns was also down significantly over that period.

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