By the Numbers: Guns in America

[SMOKE 1,426]

The image you posted is for knife crime, not murder. Got those stats?

Have you ever seen a 800yd knife?

Edited August 9, 2012 by SMOKE

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

16,799 -- Homicides in the United States in 2009.

11,493 -- Homicides by firearm in 2009.

High numbers... but please look at the trend through time.. In the last 30 years the homicide rate has dropped steadily nearly every year.. more than 50% total in the last 30 years... Even with the economy in the last four years the rates have still dropped. This is not an accident, a lot of work had gone into lowering the rate over a long period of time and that work still goes on. Gun controls have been part of the work but it does not appear they were part of what has helped bring the crime rate down...

There are states with very loose restrictions on gun control that have very low murder rates.. For example Vermont has very little in the way of gun control laws and even with an average of double the population density of Canada they still have a much lower homicide rate.. (1.0 per 100,000 versus 1.6 per 100,000). Someone might look at those figures and apply some logic and figure if everyone toted guns the murder rate might drop.. Clearly that would be stupid but so is the opposite idea that removing the guns will have a great impact on the murder rate. The effort needs to be put into stopping the desire by those who chose to kill. The numbers are coming down, sadly they will never come down fast enough.

US Crime Statistics

By the way on the link to crime stats it only goes through the year 2010.. You will notice that 1962 and 1963 were the record lows for the US murder rate but very close to the 2010 rate.. According to the UN 2012 study the current murder rate has dropped another 10% which made 2011 the lowest homicide rate for the U.S. in over 50 years..

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Most knives aren't very long, this means you must be standing next to your victim. This makes attacking someone far more difficult than it is to shoot them. I'm not saying knife crime is better, just saying you need to have bigger balls to carry it out.

I had an idea, but I don't think its smart to post it.

[rocks 494]

Give me the stats for knife crime in USA.

[X Factor 1,112]

Some polls have shown Americans' opinions on guns have not changed because of these recent shootings.

[abner137 48]

C'mon now....it obviously is harder to kill someone with a knife than a gun, even harder to strangle them....how about poisoning? Or staging an accident to murder someone??? These are all more difficult, imo, down the line....Now why are so few people strangled compared to shot by firearms? I don't have accurate numbers but I have to believe a lot less are strangled......why? not because guns are easy to get....because they are easy to use......and...I hate to say it, but most Americans are lazy...especially ones who want to kill someone.....so, hypothetically, if we banned guns and had a mass confiscation....which would never happen without a revolution...but for giggles..your murder by guns numbers would probably turn into murder by the next easiest way to kill someone, stabbing would be my guess.

So the morale of the story? Americans love to kill people.

Just smile......I had to add this, some of the funniest truth I ever heard.

This editorial is intended solely for entertainment uses only. The opinions expressed are those of the poster only and do not reflect the opinion of his fiancee.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Some polls have shown Americans' opinions on guns have not changed because of these recent shootings.

Why would they? These rampage events seem to happen fairly regularly in the USA - people probably see it as a fact of life, just as they see guns as a fact of life. Noone seems to connect the dots that widespread proliferation of firearms is going to make it more likely that nutcases have agency to commit heinous crimes.

The difference is that in Europe these things are treated as watershed moments. That will never happen in the USA.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The knife was the weapon of choice for OJ.

[X Factor 1,112]

So the morale of the story? Americans love to kill people.

[Ban Hammer 13,344]

.22lr becomes somewhat inaccurate after 100 yd. Larger rifles go out to 800+

however, i'd say about 95% of us population with hunting rifles still couldn't hit a deer at that range - accuracy (i.e. hits) fall off after about 300-400 yards for most hunters.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

however, i'd say about 95% of us population with hunting rifles still couldn't hit a deer at that range - accuracy (i.e. hits) fall off after about 300-400 yards for most hunters.

I bet a lot of hunters couldn't hit a deer at 300 yards, or drop it with one shot at that distance.

[kytwell 179]

I bet a lot of hunters couldn't hit a deer at 300 yards, or drop it with one shot at that distance.

That far away isn't "hunting"! That would be shooting. Use a bow and arrow 20yards and under

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I like the stabilizer on that model.

[SMOKE 1,426]

Give me the stats for knife crime in USA.

I don't care about knife stats. I'm here for the show.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

(CNN) -- Following the mass shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, the debate over gun control has been reignited: How should the country balance its constitutional right to bear arms with access to deadly firepower?

Here's a look by the numbers on guns in the United States and Americans' attitudes toward them.

26 -- Percentage of Americans who favor a handgun ban, a record low, according to a 2011 Gallup Poll.

60 -- Percentage who supported a ban in 1959, the first year Gallup asked this question.

47 -- Percentage of Americans who told Gallup in 2011 that they had at least one gun at home.

At least 41 -- Percentage increase in background checks for new gun owners in Aurora, Colorado, on the weekend after shootings there.

56 -- Number of votes in the Senate that the assault weapons ban received in 1994.

19 -- Types of military-style weapons affected by the ban.

10 -- Years the assault weapons ban was in effect until it expired.

40 -- Percentage of guns sold through unlicensed, private sellers.

5,400 -- Licensed firearms manufacturers in the United States in 2011.

310 million -- Total number of nonmilitary firearms in the United States as of 2009.

$75 or less -- Retail price of a low-caliber handgun.

At least $1,500 -- Retail price of a "higher-end" shotgun or rifle.

49 -- Percentage of Americans who said in 2011 that protecting gun-ownership rights was important.

46 -- Percentage who thought gun control was more important.

58 -- Percentage polled in 2011 after the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, that felt mass shootings were mainly isolated events carried out by "troubled individuals."

16,799 -- Homicides in the United States in 2009.

11,493 -- Homicides by firearm in 2009.

150,000 -- Brady Act background checks in 2009 that led to the rejection of a potential gun buyer's application.

39 -- Percentage of applications denied by states because of a felony conviction or indictment.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/09/politics/btn-guns-in-america/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

My eyes! The stats have glazed them over!

the news doesn't report from the dumpsters behind the clinics

Think of them as lost votes for Obama.