Assault Weapons Are Not The Problem
http://left-coast-pundit.com/2013/01/27/20130126.aspx?ref=rss
…Only 2.6% of the murders in the U.S. in 2011 were committed using rifles, and many of these were in the hands of police officers who had to stop a criminal. Looking at the raw numbers, you are more than twice as likely to be killed by someone using their bare hands than by someone using a rifle. But it gets even more strange…your odds of being beaten to death with a blunt object are 1.5 time more likely, and your chances of being stabbed to death are more than twice as likely. Applying the logic of the Left, we should be outlawing people with big fists, baseball bats & steak knives before we start going after rifles.
| Weapons | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2011 % of Total |
| Handguns | 7,398 | 6,800 | 6,501 | 6,115 | 6,220 | 49.1% |
| Rifles | 453 | 380 | 351 | 367 | 323 | 2.6% |
| Shotguns | 457 | 442 | 423 | 366 | 356 | 2.8% |
| Other guns | 116 | 81 | 96 | 93 | 97 | 0.8% |
| Firearms, type not stated | 1,705 | 1,825 | 1,828 | 1,933 | 1,587 | 12.5% |
| Total firearms: | 10,129 | 9,528 | 9,199 | 8,874 | 8,583 | 67.8% |
| Knives or cutting instruments | 1,817 | 1,888 | 1,836 | 1,732 | 1,694 | 13.4% |
| Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.) | 647 | 603 | 623 | 549 | 496 | 3.9% |
| Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.) | 869 | 875 | 817 | 769 | 728 | 5.7% |
| Poison | 10 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 0.0% |
| Explosives | 1 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 0.1% |
| Fire | 131 | 85 | 98 | 78 | 75 | 0.6% |
| Narcotics | 52 | 34 | 52 | 45 | 29 | 0.2% |
| Drowning | 12 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 0.1% |
| Strangulation | 134 | 89 | 122 | 122 | 85 | 0.7% |
| Asphyxiation | 109 | 87 | 84 | 98 | 89 | 0.7% |
| Other weapons or weapons not stated | 1,005 | 999 | 904 | 872 | 853 | 6.7% |
| Total | 14,916 | 14,224 | 13,752 | 13,164 | 12,664 | 100.0% |
…BTW…my definition of gun control means using both hands.
UPDATE: On average, there are 375 people struck by lightening each year. So, you are more likely to be struck by lightening than you are to be killed with a rifle.