The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments on assault weapon bans from Connecticut and Cook County, Illinois. FBI Uniform Crime Reports show rifles accounted for a small portion of firearm murders, and that portion declined over time.

The portion of firearm murders involving rifles was 4.8 percent before the ban that started in September 1994, 4.9 percent while the ban lasted from 1995 through 2004, and 3.6 percent afterward, or 3.86 percent in the first decade after it ended. The Crime Prevention Research Center compiled these figures.