There's certainly some arguments to be made in that vein. A stabbing is much more visceral and requires you to really commit to it, while pulling a trigger is s

There's certainly some arguments to be made in that vein. A stabbing is much more visceral and requires you to really commit to it, while pulling a trigger is simpler and farther removed from the violence of the act. There's also something to be said for training. Most people who own guns spend time shooting them, either through hunting or at a gun range, and so they know how to aim and shoot. And all that practice and repetition might make that action seem more "natural," they don't have to think as much about what they are doing. In contrast, very few people practice stabbing. As a caveat, though, FBI studies on the performance of their agents in the field have shown that proficiency on the shooting range is not really correlated with proficiency in (for lack of a better word) combat with firearms. It should also be noted that while this may be the case for spree killings or maybe muggings gone wrong, it isn't necessarily the case for domestic homicide. Domestic violence incidents are characterized by great rage and aggression. Domestic homicide is often preceded by beatings and abuse. I don't really have any statistics or expertise here, but I feel like the sort of person who beats their spouse and is willing to kill their spouse with a gun isn't above killing their spouse with a knife, especially when the violence is happening in a fit of rage.