“Assault weapons” were rarely used in crime before the federal ban of 1994. Unless otherwise noted, data below were compiled by author Dave Kopel in his 1994 article on the “assault weapon” issue.

Akron: Of the 669 guns seized by the Akron police in 1992, fewer than 1% were “assault weapons.” The 1% figure represents a decline from 1988, when about 2% of seized guns were “assault weapons.”

Baltimore County: During the first nine months of 1990, out of 644 weapons logged in to the Baltimore County police property room, only two were “assault weapons.” Out of 305 murders in the city of Baltimore in 1990, only seven (2.3%) involved rifles and shotguns of any kind, much less any subset of those firearms labeled “assault weapons.”

Bexar County, Texas (including San Antonio): From 1987 to 1992, “assault weapons” were used in 0.2% of homicides and 0.0% of suicides. From 1985 to 1992, they constituted 0.1% of guns seized by the police, according to Vincent DiMaio, the county’s Chief Medical Examiner.

California: In 1990, “assault weapons” comprised 36 of the 963 firearms involved in homicide or aggravated assault and analyzed by police crime laboratories, according to a report prepared by the California Department of Justice, and based on data from police firearms laboratories throughout the state. The report concluded that “assault weapons play a very small role in assault and homicide firearm cases.” Of the 1,979 guns seized in 1990 from California narcotics dealers, 58 [2.9%] were “assault weapons.”

Chicago: From 1985 through 1989, only one homicide was perpetrated with a military caliber rifle. Of the 17,144 guns seized by the Chicago police in 1989, 175 were “military style weapons.”

Chicago suburbs: From 1980 to 1989, “assault weapons” totaled 1.6% of seized drug-related guns.

Connecticut: “Assault weapons” constituted 198 of the 11,002 firearms confiscated by police in the years 1988 through 1992.

Connecticut and Pennsylvania: “Assault weapons” accounted for 1.39% of guns recovered by police in Connecticut between 1988-1993 and Pennsylvania between 1989-1994. (Gary Kleck, Targeting Guns, 1997, p. 114.)

Denver: A gun-by-gun examination of the firearms in Denver police custody as of March 1991 found 14 “assault weapons” among the 1,752 crime guns. Only one of those guns had been used in a crime of violence (an aggravated assault).

Florida: The Florida Assault Weapons Commission found that “assault weapons” were used in 17 of 7,500 gun crimes for the years 1986 to 1989.

Los Angeles: Of the more than 4,000 guns seized by police during one year, only about 3% were “assault weapons.”

Maryland: In 1989-90, there was only one death involving a “semi-automatic assault rifle” in all of the state’s 24 counties.

Massachusetts: Of 161 fatal shootings in Massachusetts in 1988, three involved “semi-automatic assault rifles.” From 1985 to 1991, the guns were involved in 0.7% of all shootings.

Miami: The Miami police seized 18,702 firearms from Jan. 1, 1989 to Dec. 31, 1993. Of these, 3.13% were “assault weapons.”

Minneapolis: From April 1, 1987 to April 1, 1989, the Minneapolis police property room received 2,200 firearms, nine of which were “assault weapons.”

Nashville: Of the 190 homicides perpetrated in Nashville in 1991-92; not one was committed with an “assault weapon.”

Newark: According to surgeons at the University Hospital in Newark, in the entire decade of the 1980s there was one wounding in the city in which the bullet removed was the type found in “semi-automatic assault rifles.”

New Jersey: According to the Deputy Chief Joseph Constance of the Trenton (N.J.) Police Department, in 1989, there was not a single murder involving any rifle, much less a “semi-automatic assault rifle,” in the State of New Jersey. No person in New Jersey was killed with an “assault weapon” in 1988. Nevertheless, in 1990 the New Jersey legislature enacted an “assault weapon” ban that included low-power .22 rifles, and even BB guns. Based on the legislature's broad definition of “assault weapons,” in 1991, such guns were used in five of 410 murders in New Jersey, in 47 of 22,728 armed robberies, and in 23 of 23,720 aggravated assaults.

New York City: Of 12,138 crime guns seized by New York City police in 1988, only 80 were “assault-type” firearms.

New York State: Semi-automatic “assault rifles” were used in 20 of the 2,394 murders in New York State in 1992.

San Diego: Of the 3,000 firearms seized by the San Diego police in 1988-90, nine were “assault weapons” under the California definition.

San Francisco: Only 2.2% of the firearms confiscated in 1988 were military-style semi-automatics.

Virginia: Of the 1,171 firearms analyzed in state forensics laboratories in 1992, 3.3% were “assault weapons.”

Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post reports: “[L]aw enforcement officials say that the guns have not been a factor in the area’s murder epidemic.” So-called assault weapons were 3% of guns seized in 1990.