3 ms·

Here's a summary of the 2011 data from the linked statistics: 8,583 - Homicides by firearms (all types) 323 - Homicides by rifles 1,694 - Homicides by

• angersock 13y ago
  The full table for firearms (2011) is: Handguns 6220 Rifles 323 Shotguns 356 Other guns 97 Firearms, type not stated 1587 So, er, yeah. GP is correct in their statement that rifles (indeed, it would seem, all longarms) are less favored for homicide than sharp and blunt objects.
  • Retric 13y ago
    Not really, type not stated just means unknown some of those are clearly going to be Rifles. If 200 of those where Rifles then it would be more popular than blunt objects.
    • angersock 13y ago
      You presume too much... these are the conclusions the data support--anything else is just handwaving.
    • hga 13y ago
      But with 1.5 orders of magnitude difference in the officially known enumerated types we can be pretty sure the officially unknowns don't wildly vary from knowns. Plus the number of rifles used is so small people who track of this sort of thing would likely have an idea if something weird was happening. My only caveat is bodies found without a recovered bullet; almost all centerfire rifles have greater energies and sectional densities than normally used handguns, so the bullet is more likely to exit. To get a handle on this we'd need breakdowns on where they happened (e.g. city, almost certainly a handgun, rural, a rifle is more likely, if only because of concealment issues). Or talk to coroners, the wounds will be somewhat different.
• deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]