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▼ Sixth, we have the homicide rate with various methods of homicide. This is a little harder to parse, as there is an increasing percentage of "Firearm, type not stated" over time. I don't know why this is. But we can see the single biggest tool used in homicide is the handgun, while rifles (a percentage of which are "assault weapons" by one definition or another) kinds just bounces along near the bottom of the graph there, way below the dashed "non-firearm" line.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1172211325
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1172211325
The graph is per 100,000 per year, not percentages or anything, but going back to the 80s when "type not stated" was a tiny fraction of today's number, you can still see that only a small fraction of murders were done with rifles of any type.
It might be a reflection of guns like the .22LR, which are popular in both rifles and handguns. Other handgun cartridges are have only a small secondary use in rifles, but the .22LR is both.
People that would buy a pistol-caliber carbine would probably rather buy a shoulder gun with more power, all things being equal, except for plinking purposes.
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