| Handgun | Other gun |
Knife | Blunt object |
Other weapon |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 8,651 | 3,328 | 3,343 | 912 | 2,546 |
| 1977 | 8,563 | 3,391 | 3,648 | 900 | 2,618 |
| 1978 | 8,879 | 3,569 | 3,685 | 937 | 2,490 |
| 1979 | 9,858 | 3,732 | 4,121 | 1,039 | 2,710 |
| 1980 | 10,552 | 3,834 | 4,439 | 1,153 | 3,061 |
| 1981 | 10,324 | 3,740 | 4,364 | 1,166 | 2,927 |
| 1982 | 9,137 | 3,501 | 4,383 | 1,032 | 2,957 |
| 1983 | 8,472 | 2,794 | 4,214 | 1,098 | 2,731 |
| 1984 | 8,183 | 2,835 | 3,956 | 1,090 | 2,626 |
| 1985 | 8,165 | 2,973 | 3,996 | 1,051 | 2,794 |
| 1986 | 9,054 | 3,126 | 4,235 | 1,176 | 3,018 |
| 1987 | 8,781 | 3,094 | 4,076 | 1,169 | 2,980 |
| 1988 | 9,375 | 3,162 | 3,978 | 1,296 | 2,869 |
| 1989 | 10,225 | 3,197 | 3,923 | 1,279 | 2,877 |
| 1990 | 11,677 | 3,395 | 4,077 | 1,254 | 3,037 |
| 1991 | 13,101 | 3,277 | 3,909 | 1,252 | 3,161 |
| 1992 | 13,158 | 3,043 | 3,447 | 1,088 | 3,024 |
| 1993 | 13,981 | 3,094 | 3,140 | 1,082 | 3,233 |
| 1994 | 13,496 | 2,840 | 2,960 | 963 | 3,071 |
| 1995 | 12,050 | 2,679 | 2,731 | 981 | 3,169 |
| 1996 | 10,731 | 2,533 | 2,691 | 917 | 2,777 |
| 1997 | 9,705 | 2,631 | 2,363 | 833 | 2,678 |
| 1998 | 8,844 | 2,168 | 2,257 | 896 | 2,805 |
| 1999 | 7,943 | 2,174 | 2,042 | 902 | 2,461 |
| 2000 | 7,985 | 2,218 | 2,099 | 727 | 2,556 |
| 2001 | 7,900 | 2,239 | 2,090 | 776 | 3,032 |
| 2002 | 8,286 | 2,538 | 2,018 | 773 | 2,588 |
| 2003 | 8,830 | 2,223 | 2,085 | 745 | 2,645 |
| 2004 | 8,304 | 2,357 | 2,133 | 759 | 2,595 |
| 2005 | 8,478 | 2,868 | 2,147 | 671 | 2,528 |
| 2006 | 7,836 | 2,389 | 1,989 | 656 | 2,367 |
| 2007 | 7,398 | 2,731 | 1,923 | 665 | 2,444 |
| 2008 | 6,800 | 2,728 | 1,888 | 676 | 2,432 |
| 2009 | 6,501 | 2,698 | 1,836 | 667 | 2,220 |
| 2010 | 6,009 | 2,766 | 1,842 | 600 | 2,157 |
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/baseballbats.asp#VkkmUyOQ0aKb75tw.99
See the chart above. One of the more interesting tropes that make their way around the Internet is the trope that weapons other than guns kill more people than guns. The chart above is compiled from national records. Sadly, what it does show is that this is nowhere near true. The reality is that guns are involved in well over 50% of the homicides in the USA. Sadly, as in all too many political arguments in the USA, truth is the first victim of those who are arguing with each other. Because all of us do not tend to check “facts,” we are taken in by statistics that favor our point of view. Worse, we will then tend to deny that we are wrong when the more accurate statistics come in.
Notice that I am not excusing myself. All human beings have the tendency to look more favorably on supposed evidence that favors their opinion. All human beings are less likely to check supposed facts carefully if those supposed facts favor them. Nevertheless, here is what is true. Guns kill more people than the sum total of all other means of killing people combined.
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