FBI: More People Killed with Hammers & Clubs Than Rifles

[SalisburySage]

http://www.ammoland.com/2013/01/fbi-...#axzz2HKY1zkRv

Washington DC - -(Ammoland.com)-According to the FBI annual crime statistics, the number of murders committed annually with hammers and clubs far outnumbers the number of murders committed with a rifle.

[slapshot]

....and then there's these statistics:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1223721

[Wild Eyed Southern Boy]

....and then there's these statistics:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1223721

Your statistics are projections. With crime trending down, your referenced projections are assuming an increase.

"Just over half of all gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides, with 17,352 (55.6%) of the total 31,224 firearm-related deaths and 12,632 (40.5%) homicide deaths"

"10 Leading Causes of Injury Death by Age Group Highlighting Violence-Related Injury Deaths, United States". National Vital Statistics System. National Center for Health Statistics, CDC.

If firearms disappeared, are we to simply assume that potential suicides will not find another method?

[Daan]

....and then there's these statistics:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1223721

Help me out here.

Your link is to an article projecting "gun deaths" to exceed car deaths. It then has a link to a petition to ban "assault weapons" which account for a tiny percentage of gun deaths.

A little deceptive if not outright dishonest.

Quote

Fact: Nationally, “assault weapons” were used in 1.4% of crimes involving firearms and 0.25% of all violent crime before the enactment of any national or state “assault weapons” ban. The rate is less than 0.1% In many major urban areas (San Antonio, Mobile, Nashville, etc.) as well as some some entire states (Maryland, New Jersey, etc.).

End Quote
http://gunfacts.info/pdfs/gun-facts/...6_1_screen.pdf

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[Daan]

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Research links increase in suicides to the recession.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/05/he...nds.html?_r=1&
Quote

The rate of suicide in the United States rose sharply during the first few years since the start of the recession, a new analysis has found.

The research team linked the suicide rate to unemployment, using numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Every rise of 1 percent in unemployment was accompanied by an increase in the suicide rate of roughly 1 percent, it found. A similar correlation has been found in some European countries since the recession.

End Quote

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[pepper]

Your statistics are projections. With crime trending down, your referenced projections are assuming an increase.

"Just over half of all gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides, with 17,352 (55.6%) of the total 31,224 firearm-related deaths and 12,632 (40.5%) homicide deaths"

"10 Leading Causes of Injury Death by Age Group Highlighting Violence-Related Injury Deaths, United States". National Vital Statistics System. National Center for Health Statistics, CDC.

If firearms disappeared, are we to simply assume that potential suicides will not find another method?

As I look around my kitchen, I can see more than a few ways to kill myself. Even more in the basement or in the bathroom medicine chest. On my two hours of commuting each day, theres got to be no less than hundreds of really quick, easy ways, constantly presenting themselves.

I have a gun, and if I were to contemplate such a thing, I wouldn't use it for that. I think I'd use my car. 150 mph into a bridge abutment maybe? Or better yet, the hose from the exhaust into the interior. Less mess for family and EMT's....

Granted, suicide is an extremely selfish act committed by people not thinking rationally in most cases, so I can't say..I hope I'm never there.

Because of the irrational situations of suicide and murder it's difficult to look at statistics and think that by removing one potential tool, you could affect someone whos crossed the line and wants to carry out the act. They couldn't be stopped no matter what.

No offence intended.

[ms maggie]

Pepper: suicide by gun is very effective. Other means pale in comparison. This matters in that people who fail in their first attempt almost never try again--usually they get help.

Also while clubs may cause deaths, mass killings by clubs? Don't recall any.

[pepper]

Pepper: suicide by gun is very effective. Other means pale in comparison. This matters in that people who fail in their first attempt almost never try again--usually they get help.

Also while clubs may cause deaths, mass killings by clubs? Don't recall any.

Hi Maggie

First, while I don't disagree that guns are very effective for this, and they do rank as the method of choice, suicide accounts for a little over 1% of all deaths, so perspective is needed.

Guns account for 51.6% of all suicides. That leaves lots of other options, so if you're hellbent, NOT having a gun isn't going to stop you in any way.

http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html

Mass killing by guns is of course terrible and easy, but if you really want to kill lots of people, explosives is the way to go.

I guess I'm thinking that mass gun killings are so very rare, that we should go slowly with legislation based on terrible events that seem to demand an emotional response.

[SalisburySage]

....and then there's these statistics:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1223721

Propaganda.

[Wild Eyed Southern Boy]

Because of the irrational situations of suicide and murder it's difficult to look at statistics and think that by removing one potential tool, you could affect someone whos crossed the line and wants to carry out the act. They couldn't be stopped no matter what.

No offence intended.

Agreed. Somebody that really wants to do it will find a way.

[Wild Eyed Southern Boy]

Mass killing by guns is of course terrible and easy, but if you really want to kill lots of people, explosives is the way to go.

I guess I'm thinking that mass gun killings are so very rare, that we should go slowly with legislation based on terrible events that seem to demand an emotional response.

In reading today's legal proceedings regarding the Aurora Theater shootings, they mention people wounded by "explosive devices".

[jessup270]

All the rhetoric aside, the United States leads the "civilized" world in firearm deaths per capita.

Our nation was founded on violence and that violent culture continues today and firearms make that violent propensity easier.

[pepper]

All the rhetoric aside, the United States leads the "civilized" world in firearm deaths per capita.

Our nation was founded on violence and that violent culture continues today and firearms make that violent propensity easier.

We're also lead the world in individual freedoms (which can be messy but I wouldn't trade it) and we have the largest racially, ethnically, religiously, and politically diverse population on the planet.

And every nation was founded by violence in some way. Violence is hardly an American invention, but an inescapable part of Human Nature. Could we be nicer? Of course, but you need to keep some perspective, IMO.