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Do Liberal care that more people were murdered with knives, body parts or blunt objects than with rifles? - Manny A Kounts - 02-28-2013 07:03 PM
In 2011, more people were murdered with knives, "hands or feet" or "clubs and hammers" than with any type of rifle.
Gun-rights advocates have mounted an aggressive social-media campaign to blunt the popularity of the White House’s efforts to advance new restrictions on guns.
One reader forwarded us a statistics-heavy Facebook post that echoes others we’ve received. It says, "Facts gun control advocates don’t want you to know. According to the FBI, in 2011, 1,694 were murdered with knives, 726 with hands or feet, 496 with clubs or hammers, 323 with rifles of any type. But Obama wants to ban semi-automatic rifles?"
We should first note that there is significant disagreement over what is, or should be, considered "an assault weapon." For instance, even though the Facebook post references Obama’s intention to "ban semi-automatic rifles," California law already includes some types of handguns and shotguns in its definition of "assault weapon."
That said, we’ll take a look at the number of deaths caused by rifles. To check the post, we looked at the 2011 edition of the FBI’s annual "Crime in the United States" report. The report breaks down the types of weapons used in murder. These are the statistics for 2011, the most recent year available:
Handguns
6,220
Rifles
323
Shotguns
356
Other guns
97
Firearms, type not stated
1,587
Knives or cutting instruments
1,694
Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.)
496
Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.)
728
The Facebook post and the FBI stats are closely in tune. Except for a minor typo in the Facebook post’s number for deaths by hands, fists or feet, the numbers are accurate.
The number cited for rifles was somewhat less precise. While it’s true that the FBI counted 323 murders by rifles, the agency also counted 1,587 murders by an undetermined type of firearm and 97 by "other guns." If gun usage in these two categories followed the same pattern as other gun homicides, that would add another 75 or so murders by rifle, making an estimate for the number of rifle murders about 400, rather than 323.
Still, the larger point holds: Murders by knives, blunt objects and body parts each individually outweighed those committed using a rifle.
We should note that while the Facebook post’s comparison is accurate as far as it goes, it does ignore the single biggest category of weapons used in murders -- handguns. Handguns were used in 6,220 cases, or 72 percent of all firearm murders in 2011 and slightly under half of all murders using any kind of weapon that year.
This caveat illustrates how the selection and framing of statistics can be used to bolster one side or the other in the gun debate.
Our ruling
The post uses data selectively, ignoring the significant role of handguns in gun violence. But the statistics it mentions are solid. FBI data backs up the Facebook post’s claim that in 2011, more people were murdered with knives, "hands or feet" or "clubs and hammers" than with any type of rifle. We rate the statement True.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jan/18/facebook-posts/facebook-post-says-more-people-were-murdered-knive/
- manifest ohhhh - 02-28-2013 07:08 PM
liberals think and behave like 13 year old girls with ADD...........
- IceT - 02-28-2013 07:15 PM
No because it doesn't advance their political agenda!
- Mike - 02-28-2013 07:25 PM
Criminal prosecution is taken to deter such violence but it is impossible to eliminate. The government doesn't ignore these killings, they do what they can to try prevent them.
- TheKitten - 02-28-2013 07:29 PM
As much as some guy's Facebook page is a authoritative source, I got my numbers from the FBI, which state that in 2010, about 9000/12 000 murders were committed with firearms, with similar numbers for 2011 (8553 / 12 664)
i.e. more than two thirds of all murders.
- cooingnumber834 - 02-28-2013 07:36 PM
What does that have to do with anything? The criminals who do use guns are more effective than the ones that use knives. If the criminal had to use a knife because they could not obtain a gun, imagine what an armed civilian could do to them.
- Jeff - 02-28-2013 07:46 PM
I don't really care... why should I?
- HaterPolice - 02-28-2013 07:50 PM
I don't know why the Right think it makes sense to suggest that handguns are more likely to be used in a killing -that only suggests the ban ought to be BROADER.
Closing gun show loop holes, having mandatory background checks will also eliminate some of the hand guns sales that should never have been made.
- Daniel - 02-28-2013 07:59 PM
So, you'd be in support of extra regulation on handguns? Since handgun death stats dwarf all the others.
- Smarter Then You - 02-28-2013 08:04 PM
You are apparently trying to make some type of Rush Limbaugh like point that by selectively framing the arguement around rifles versus specific weapons. (BTW, how is a shotgun not a rifle? Maybe I'm just an ignorant liberal but I don't understand the distinction). Using your own analysis (or rather the analysis you copy and pasted) I come up with 756 deaths by rifles (and yes, I'm considering a shotgun a rifle). That's slightly more then the 728 deaths by "Personal weapons" and substantially more then the 496 by blunt objects. Intelligent people rate your analysis a lie.