U.S. Department of Justice · Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics BJS home page Contents of Homicide trends in the U.S. Previous Next Homicide trends in the U.S. Weapons used Homicides are most often committed with guns, especially handguns Like the homicide rate generally, gun-involved incidents increased sharply in the late 1980's before falling through the 1990's. The number of gun-involved homicides has increased some recently. During thi ...