Reply #36: The real important stat is that Pistols are the problem NOT Rifles or Shotguns

[happyslug]

Less then 5% of all crimes involved Rifles or Shotguns, Knives AND Clubs both beat out Rifles and Shotguns (This is a development of the 1990s, before the 1990s the FBI statistics clearly show knives and clubs falling below Shotguns and Rifles, but Shotguns OR Rifles beat out Knives OR clubs. Since the early 1990s this has changed, the number of people killed by Rifles and Shotguns have continued to drop (They have been dropping like ALL murder rates since the 1960s) more then murders done by Knives and Clubs so since the early 1990s the number of people killed by Knives or clubs is greater then the number of people killed by Rifles AND Shotguns. Just a change in the FBI stat over the last 30 years.

Murder by state and type of Weapon 2007:
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/data/table_20.html

General Stat in the US by the FBI:
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/index.html

1995 Statistics:
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/Cius_97/95CRIME/95crime2.pdf

which shows 68% of all murders were done by "Firearms" but the vast majority was done with pistols, 11,497 out of 12,373 done with pistols (or almost 80%).
.............................1991.....1992....1993.... 1995....1996
Total Firearms........14,373..15,489..16,136...15,463...13,673
Handguns..............11,497..12,580..13,212...12,775...11,198
Rifles........................745......706......757........724.......637
Shotguns................1,124....1,111....1,057.......953.......917
Other guns..................30........42........37.........19.........29
Firearms–not stated....977...1,050...1,073........992........892
Knives or cutting
instruments............3,430...3,296...2,967....,,2,802...,.2,538
Blunt objects (clubs,
hammers, etc.)........1,099...1,040...1,022........912.......904
Personal weapons (hands,
fists, feet, etc.).......1,202...1,131..1,151.......1,165.....1,182
Poison........................12.......13..........9..........10.........12
Explosives...................16.......19........23..........10.......190
Fire..........................195......203......217.........196.......166
Narcotics....................22.......24........22..........22.........22
Drowning....................40.......29........23..........25.........29
Strangulation............327......314......331.........287........232
Asphyxiation.............113......115......111.........113........135
Other weapons or
weapons not stated..1847..1,043..1,168........1,079........960

And you can see the tail end of the switch, in 1991 1169 murders where done by Rifles AND Shotguns, while 4,529 murders were done by Knives and blunt instruments (i.e. clubs). My point is the problem is NOT firearms, but pistols, for if these number continue after 1996 (And there have) personal instruments, feet, fists etc will exceed the number of people killed by Shotguns (they already in 1996 exceeded the numbers killed by rifles).