Murder Victims by Weapon Type - The Statistics
When the liberal members of Congress talk about an "assault weapons" ban, they indicate that they are introducing legislation in an effort to curb violence and murders. How effective would that be? Well, in an effort to shed some light on a "best case scenario" outcome of an all-out "assualt weapons" ban, we wanted to see just how many lives would be saved according to the statistics. We went over to the FBI's website, and we fould a great statisitical analysis of Murder Victims by weapon from 2010 - 2014. Keep in mind that for this discussion, we are focusing on "assault rifles" (which no liberal can seem to define), specifically the AR-15. Note that the AR-15 is just one type of semi-automatic rifle, so it will fall under the "RIFLE" section below.
Here's how it breaks out...
| Weapon Used: | 2010 Total: | 2010 %: | 2011 Total: | 2011 %: | 2012 Total: | 2012 %: | 2013 Total: | 2013 %: | 2014 Total: | 2014 %: |
| HANDGUN: | 6,115 | 46% | 6,251 | 49% | 6,404 | 50% | 5,782 | 47% | 5,562 | 47% |
| RIFLE: | 367 | 3% | 332 | 3% | 298 | 2% | 285 | 2% | 248 | 2% |
| SHOTGUN: | 366 | 3% | 362 | 3% | 310 | 2% | 308 | 3% | 262 | 2% |
| OTHER GUN: | 93 | 1% | 97 | 1% | 116 | 1% | 123 | 1% | 93 | 1% |
| UNSPECIFICED GUN: | 1,933 | 15% | 1,611 | 13% | 1,769 | 14% | 1,956 | 16% | 1,959 | 16% |
| Knives or Cutting Instrument: | 1,732 | 13% | 1,716 | 13% | 1,604 | 12% | 1,490 | 12% | 1,567 | 13% |
| Blunt Objects (club, hammer, etc.): | 549 | 4% | 502 | 4% | 522 | 4% | 428 | 3% | 435 | 4% |
| Personal Weapons (hands/fists, feet, etc.): | 769 | 6% | 751 | 6% | 707 | 5% | 687 | 6% | 660 | 6% |
| Poison: | 11 | <1% | 5 | <1% | 13 | <1% | 11 | <1% | 7 | <1% |
| Explosives: | 4 | <1% | 6 | <1% | 8 | <1% | 2 | <1% | 6 | <1% |
| Fire: | 78 | 1% | 76 | 1% | 87 | 1% | 94 | 1% | 71 | 1% |
| Narcotics: | 45 | <1% | 33 | <1% | 38 | <1% | 53 | <1% | 62 | 1% |
| Drowning: | 10 | <1% | 15 | <1% | 14 | <1% | 4 | <1% | 14 | <1% |
| Strangulation: | 122 | 1% | 88 | 1% | 90 | 1% | 85 | 1% | 89 | 1% |
| Asphyxiation: | 98 | 1% | 92 | 1% | 106 | 1% | 95 | 1% | 96 | 1% |
| OTHER (not stated): | 872 | 7% | 858 | 7% | 802 | 6% | 850 | 7% | 830 | 7% |
Note that the average percent of rifles (again, of which "assault rifles" are just a mere fraction) average out to be the weapon of choice just 2% of all murders in the USA. Subsequently, we'd be 3 times better off by banning hands, feet, and fists; and we'd be twice as well off by banning hammers, clubs, and baseball bats. Alternatively, we would be somewhere between 6 and 7 times better off by banning knives and cutting instruments than by banning all rifles combined.
Contrarily, handguns are used in about half of all murders in the United States, and almost another 25% are attributed to knives, fists, or hammers/bats. Think about that... 25% of the murders in the USA include a knife, a bat, or just ones hands and feet, compared to just 2% that include any type of rifle.
Perhaps we're focused on the wrong issue?
