By the Numbers

I sat for an hour today looking at FBI statistics from 2012 on homicides.  It's an interesting data sheet.

2012:

- 12,888 folks were dead from homicides that year.  Pistols were used in 6,404 episodes.

- 298 were rifle episodes.  No one splits this up, from assault-rifle to 22-rifle.  You would think that they'd want get this data.

- Shotguns were used to kill 310 folks.

- Knives?  They were used to kill 1,604 folks.

- Blunt objects (bats and hammers)?  522 folks.

- 707 folks were killed by fist, boots, or bodily harm.

- 13 folks were poisoned to death.

- 8 folks were killed by bombs.

- 90 were strangled to death.

- 87 folks were killed in some fashion by fire.

So, if you look at the 'facts'.....it's hard to see this assault-weapon hype getting to the top....when you might want do something about bats and hammers.  If the FBI had split off the assault rifle numbers from the 298 rifle homicides?  That's a curious thing.  If you got down to where there's only forty-five people killed by assault rifles that year.....well....twice that many were strangled to death.