damien
Member
OK, you have all read the quote from Paul Helmke on ABC News.
Should we be concerned about this? Sure. Can we rebut it? Absolutely. The FBI has kept crime data per weapon type for the last two years and I think we are getting a refresh in a few months for the 2007 data. What weapons does Paul's think are 'super dangerous'? I don't know, but I expect that he is talking about evil 'assault' rifles like the AR-15 and AK-47. If semi-automatic rifles are 'super dangerous', I suppose we would either see that in the data or there is something wrong in Paul's assumptions. That data below tends to indicate that Paul's assumptions are wrong. I hope that whomever has to debate this guy in the media has these numbers to debate with:
"by State, Type of Weapon, 2005"
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_20.html
Total murders: 14,860
Total handgun murders: 7,543 50.8% of total
Total rifle murders: 442 3.0% of total
Total shotgun murders: 517 3.5% of total
Total unknown firearm murders: 1,598 10.6% of total
Total knife murders: 1,914 12.9% of total
Total other weapons: 1,954 13.1% of total
Total no weapon murers: 892 6.0% of total
"by State, Type of Weapon, 2006"
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/data/table_20.html
Total murders: 14,990
Total handgun murders: 7,795 52.0% of total
Total rifle murders: 436 2.9% of total
Total shotgun murders: 481 3.2% of total
Total unknown firearm murders: 1,465 9.8% of total
Total knife murders: 1,822 12.2% of total
Total other weapons: 2,158 14.4% of total
Total no weapon murders: 833 5.6% of total
Note: To get the totals, you have to download the Excel and use the AutoSum feature to sum the columns. Otherwise, it can be done by hand but it is far less convenient.
So what is this telling us? It looks to me that there are several things we can take away from this data:
1. The percent of murders committed with all rifles, not just semiautomatic, but all rifles including bolt actions, lever actions, single shots, and all other types account for only 3% of murders. The number commited with semi-automatic rifles is clearly even lower. I would ask Paul to try to support his assertion that rifles of any type are 'super dangerous' weapons.
2. Rifles represent the lowest danger of all weapon types, including hands and feet. The number of murders committed with no weapons at all is almost double the number of murders committed with rifles. The number of murders committed with a knife or other edged weapon is more than quadruple the number of murders committed with rifles. The number of murders committed with a blunt weapon is almost quintuple the number of murders committed with rifles. In fact, a person is more than eleven times more likely to be murdered with a knife, blunt object, or no weapon at all as compared to a rifle of any type.
3. Despite the fact that these weapons are said to be 'super dangerous' and are also said to be increasingly used by criminals by the Brady Campaign (I would like a quote for this but I can't find it), the percentage of murders committed with all rifles dropped from 3.0% to 2.9% between 2005 and 2006.
Universal background checks don't affect the right of self-defense in the home. Banning a super dangerous class of weapons, like assault weapons, also would not adversely affect the right of self-defense in the home," said Henigan. "Curbing large volume sales doesn't affect self-defense in the home.
Should we be concerned about this? Sure. Can we rebut it? Absolutely. The FBI has kept crime data per weapon type for the last two years and I think we are getting a refresh in a few months for the 2007 data. What weapons does Paul's think are 'super dangerous'? I don't know, but I expect that he is talking about evil 'assault' rifles like the AR-15 and AK-47. If semi-automatic rifles are 'super dangerous', I suppose we would either see that in the data or there is something wrong in Paul's assumptions. That data below tends to indicate that Paul's assumptions are wrong. I hope that whomever has to debate this guy in the media has these numbers to debate with:
"by State, Type of Weapon, 2005"
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_20.html
Total murders: 14,860
Total handgun murders: 7,543 50.8% of total
Total rifle murders: 442 3.0% of total
Total shotgun murders: 517 3.5% of total
Total unknown firearm murders: 1,598 10.6% of total
Total knife murders: 1,914 12.9% of total
Total other weapons: 1,954 13.1% of total
Total no weapon murers: 892 6.0% of total
"by State, Type of Weapon, 2006"
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/data/table_20.html
Total murders: 14,990
Total handgun murders: 7,795 52.0% of total
Total rifle murders: 436 2.9% of total
Total shotgun murders: 481 3.2% of total
Total unknown firearm murders: 1,465 9.8% of total
Total knife murders: 1,822 12.2% of total
Total other weapons: 2,158 14.4% of total
Total no weapon murders: 833 5.6% of total
Note: To get the totals, you have to download the Excel and use the AutoSum feature to sum the columns. Otherwise, it can be done by hand but it is far less convenient.
So what is this telling us? It looks to me that there are several things we can take away from this data:
1. The percent of murders committed with all rifles, not just semiautomatic, but all rifles including bolt actions, lever actions, single shots, and all other types account for only 3% of murders. The number commited with semi-automatic rifles is clearly even lower. I would ask Paul to try to support his assertion that rifles of any type are 'super dangerous' weapons.
2. Rifles represent the lowest danger of all weapon types, including hands and feet. The number of murders committed with no weapons at all is almost double the number of murders committed with rifles. The number of murders committed with a knife or other edged weapon is more than quadruple the number of murders committed with rifles. The number of murders committed with a blunt weapon is almost quintuple the number of murders committed with rifles. In fact, a person is more than eleven times more likely to be murdered with a knife, blunt object, or no weapon at all as compared to a rifle of any type.
3. Despite the fact that these weapons are said to be 'super dangerous' and are also said to be increasingly used by criminals by the Brady Campaign (I would like a quote for this but I can't find it), the percentage of murders committed with all rifles dropped from 3.0% to 2.9% between 2005 and 2006.