FBI Homicide Data for 2017: Knives Outpace Rifles — OPEN THREAD

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released its Homicide Data Table for 2017. It tallies a total of 15,129 murder victims. Of that total, knives or cutting instruments were used to kill 1,591 persons whereas rifles killed 403. Adding shotgun murders (264) to the rifle count gives a total of 667.

Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.) killed 467 persons–also outpacing rifles. Interestingly (and this is consistent with previous data), “personal weapons” (hands, fists, feet, etc.) killed 692. There is an undefined “Other” category which discloses a murder count of 979.

It is clear that a person is more likely to be killed with a sharp weapon, beaten to death, with blunt instruments or bodily weapons than being shot with a rifle. In fact, you’re more likely to be murdered by an unspecified “other” cause than you are with a rifle.

So, given that none of this is hidden from the public, why the hysteria surrounding “assault” rifles? Said table shows that the vast majority of murders are committed with handguns (7,032), yet the Left continues to focus on militaristic semi-automatic rifles. If they really “cared” about saving lives, why are they side-stepping handguns? Hint:  They’re not side-stepping them at all. Their goal is to ban handguns, but they know that is politically untenable at present. Their strategy is to gin up outrage over rifle deaths in order to dupe people into thinking that curbing gun rights with respect to military-style weapons will save lives. If they are successful, they can then argue that if it is acceptable to ban weapons which kill comparatively much fewer people, what sense does it make to protect the weapons which kill far more persons.

Because the Left has no moral compass (e.g. the Kavanaugh accusations), they will lie and manipulate data to achieve a political result. Since they worship and serve the creature more than the Creator (Romans 1:25), they are in principle not unlike Muslim terrorists. Lying, destroying and killing is perfectly acceptable because it glorifies Allah. For the Left, lying and destroying people’s lives are perfectly acceptable because they achieve desired political results.

It behooves us to once again recall the words of Thomas Paine:  “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” Self defense is a natural right, and the Founders were wise enough recognize that the right of the People to enjoy the blessings of liberty would be lost if they could not defend it. That’s why they trusted the People with firearms. The government functions at the consent of the governed. The People correct the government via ballot, and, as the Declaration of Independence says, will alter or abolish it if it becomes destructive to those rights. We do not need the government to strip us of our firearms in the name of safety. The People will take care of their own safety. It is enough for the government to get out of our way. The Founders did not expect us to appeal to the police; they expected us to defend ourselves.