Why gun deaths are decreasing, in one graphic.

[Lizzie Poppet]

8. Could be!

Or, given the connection between gun violence and our stupid War on Drugs, maybe more of the shooters were indulging in their merchandise...

Good point, above, re: the deadlier nature of firearms in comparison to knives. Most people don't carry "serious" knives (big difference in deadliness between a little folding pocketknife and a large fighting knife that's halfway to being a shortsword), nor do they know how to fight with a knife. It's a lot easier to learn to shoot well enough to hit a target the size of a person at close range than it is to learn to fight effectively with a knife.

I also suspect most of those "stab" wounds were actually slices. Nasty, and if long and deep enough potentially deadly...but still less chance of damaging a vital organ than a penetration wound. All gunshot wounds are penetration wounds, however...

In any case, I concur that effective methods to reduce access to firearms by those who shouldn't have them are needed. Unfortunately, gun control efforts tend to be made in areas of extremely poor return (for the political capital spent). People are going after the low hanging fruit of "assault weapons" because they believe it to be politically possible...and ignoring the likelihood that any success at this will make efforts to curb the (literally) exponentially greater problem of handguns in the possession of criminals vastly more difficult when the gun lobby says "we've compromised enough."

But I'm drifting off topic...sorry!