General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How to refute the more murders with hammers than rifles fiction that is sweeping right wing websites [View all]krispos42
(49,445 posts)Likewise, all rifles are guns. Not all guns are rifles.
Rifles account for 323/12,664 or 2.55% of all homicides. They account for 323/8,583 or 3.76% of all gun homicides.
Breitbart's article (which you made me click... ewwww) is absolutely right when it says that more people are killed by blunt instrument (496) than rifles (323) per year.
To be fair, given that 1,684 gun-related deaths were by an unknown type of gun, let's estimate the true number.
There were 6,899 gun-related deaths in which the type of gun is known. Of which, rifles were 323/6899, or 4.68%.
There were 1,684 gun-related deaths in which the type is unknown, so we can estimate that 79 of those were killed by rifles, assuming the same proportions.
So total killed by rifles is 323 known plus 79 assumed = 402, best guess. Still lots less than blunt instrument.
We have to face the fact that, despite the potential lethality of modern rifles, particularly modern semiautomatic tactical rifles, it is very rarely realized. Far less so than handguns.
We also have to fact the fact that a certain percentage of murderers that use guns would use something else. Remember, 8,583 times in 2011, a person decided to kill somebody with a gun. That person came to the conclusion that a human being had to die, that it was the best way to solve whatever problem was between the two of them, and THEN decided the best tool for the job was a gun.