Screen shot from FBI Crime Statistics Web Page-
2012 FBI homicie stats are out-
Hammers and fists killed more than all rifles…
Semi-auto rifles are by far the most common type of firearm targeted by gun groups and gun control legislation, right?
Civilian lookalike versions of military firearms in semi-auto configuration such as the AR-15 and the AK family of rifles are the poster children for the gun control movement, right?
However, just how often are these weapons used to kill people? In 2012, 322 people were killed with rifles. Note, this includes ALL kinds of rifles – semi-automatic, lever action, single shot, etc.
As a comparison, 1,589 people were killed with knives, 518 people were killed with blunt objects (such as hammers and bats), and 678 were killed with Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.). This means that blunt objects and fists/feet combined killed about 2.5x more people than rifles in 2012.
This brings up the question, why are gun control groups so determined to legislate semi-auto rifles when they are one of the least common weapons used in homicides in the US?
It should also be noted that both the murder rate with rifles is down for 2012, and has been declining the last several years. Since 2008 (when Democrats took power in the White House), gun sales have soared to all time highs, with each year setting higher and higher sales records. Semi-auto rifle sales have particularly risen during this time, yet their use in homicides continues to decline.
The total number of documented firearm murders is 8,855, not anywhere near the 30,000+ “victims of gun violence” numbers that the anti-gun groups like to tout.
I can’t wait to see how they’re going to spin this one on the left…
h/t JP
It isn’t just the black rifles they hate. The black rifles are the only things they can get traction on with the non-gun owning public. They believe the “weapons of war” monologues. Of course, every weapon is a weapon of war if that is all you what when war finds you.
The left won’t respond, they will sweep this under the carpet. They would rather focus on the lives lost from gun violence then focus on the lives not lost.
They would rather embellish a mass murderer who used rifles to kill, then talk about the milions of us who carry concealed that don’t flip out. grrrrrrr frustrating!
Spin, nothing… They’ll just outright ignore it, as they always do, and continue making up numbers, as they always have. They’ll add in “children” up to age 26 now (since they’re still on their parents’ insurance they must still be children, right?). They’ll ignore those killed by gang violence. They’ll forget to subtract out all of those killed during the commission of a crime (the “dead goblin” files) or those killed in self-defense. Etc.
Hey Old NFO;
The AR-15 and AK-47 pattern rifles are the poster child for the antigunners because those are the weapons that will work best against the statist, the organs of state security and their agenda of really big government and if we proles would do as they want, the great utopian society is at hand. It is hard to fight FEMA or the DHS or anybody else with bolt action rifles.
Others above me have said it. The gun grabbers don’t care about the truth. They will LIE!
When we bring facts, they bring emotion.
When we bring documentation, they lie!
Those numbers – and all other numbers that don’t tell a tale that they want to hear will be ignored by the anti-gun crowd.
.02% of all firearms in America are ever used in a crime. That’s the REAL number. In any world, that is a completely insignificant statistic.
FAST AND FURIOUS and all of the other scam operations that the Obama Regime has cooked up to try and justify firearms regulations are only proof that the statistics do not favor them.
When Barack and Ms. Hillary were trying to do something with Mexico to show that US arms were flooding down there, the best that they could show was that 5% of all HANDGUN crimes in Mexico were committed with US firearms. Those statistics are anemic if you want to use them to shut down the Second Amendment in the US. Cartels do use handguns when they have nothing else to shoot, but somewhere around 90% of cartel crimes were committed with AK-47’s that were imported into Mexico from the Middle East and China. None of this played to the Obama agenda, thus the need for the FAST AND FURIOUS scam.
I shouldn’t read when I’m tired. I read that as “hammers and FISH”, and had some great mental images about THAT.
Attack cod?
What is amazing is the White House hasn’t found a way to force the FBI to cook the books.
How interesting. I should check out the FBI’s stats more often.
Prof- Exactly! Those two hundred year old Muskets were used in war… and 03A3s, M-1s, Carbines, Henry, Sharps and Winchester rifles, Colt, Remington, and S&W pistols too… sigh…
JUGM- According to ‘them’ ALL of us could flip out at any time…
Pedi- 26? I thought they’d stopped at 24, guess that wasn’t generating ‘enough’ bodies for them
Bob- Good point! Go ahead and ignore all those M-1s…
Danny- As they have been doing for years…
LL- Exactly, and another point that has been ‘overlooked’ by the MSM…
Brigid- You’ve been talking to too many mobsters… 🙂
WSF- They would if they could…
Lady L- There are some “interesting” things when one looks at the real numbers!
Given the level of marksmanship typical of many LEOs, I’d think a bolt action rifle would do just fine against FEMA, DHS, FDA, Dept of Education, etc. Put a scope on it and they’d never even get close. The ones that can shoot would probably take their oath seriously and defect.
Most of the people in the gun control crowd are simply useful idiots for the movers behind the gun control attempts.
‘Gun control’ has never been about stopping murder. It’s about stopping people from resisting tyranny.
But, I’m probably preaching to the choir here.
OS- Good point!
Morris- Another great point. Thanks!
+1 Dannytheman
Rick- Yep!
I’ve used these numbers from the FBI numerous times in arguments with the lefties. They hate facts, and then change the subject, because they have no argument to stand on. More people die in automobile accidents than with guns (including the CDC numbers). Yet, guns are the problem?