The number of incidents where a person took up arms or simply defended themself and it resulted in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation calls a “justifiable homicide” fell in 2011.
Justifiable homicide is when a “peace officer in the line of duty” or a private citizen kills a felon.
“Because these killings are determined through law enforcement investigation to be justifiable, they are tabulated separately from murder and nonnegligent manslaughter,” according to the FBI report. When reported by law enforcement the incidents are reported as “justifiable or excusable.”
According to the FBI’s Crime in the United States 2011 report, there were 260 incidents of justifiable homicide by private citizens in the United States in 2011. Of those 260 incidents, 77 percent of those (201) involved firearms. And of those firearms, 153 of those incidents involved handguns; 12 involved rifles; and 10 involved shotguns. Twenty-six incidents were in the “firearms, not stated” category and 46 justifiable homicide incidents involved a knife or cutting instrument. In 2010, there were 25 more incidents of justifiable homicide (285) by a private individual.
In 2007, there were 257 justifiable homicides by private citizens – just three less than the 2011 number. In the years between, with the exception of 2010 which saw a slight rise in the number of justifiable homicides, the numbers have been in the 260s.
Law enforcement took many more justifiable shots at felons than private citizens each year from 2007 to 2011.
FBI data shows that cops barely used anything other than a firearm to take down, in a justifiable or excusable way, a felon.
In 2011, there were 46 incidents where a knife or cutting instrument was used by a private citizen in a justifiable homicide, nine incidents where citizens used other dangerous weapons and four incidents where personal weapons were used.
In contrast, police used firearms in justifiable homicides 99.2 percent of the time, or 390 of the 393 incidents. The number of justifiable homicides by police fell by four incidents from 2010 (397).
