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18 January 2013

PolitiFact: Yep, More People Were Killed With Knives, Blunt Objects & Body Parts Than Rifles





The Truth-O-Meter Says:

 
 


Facebook post says more people were murdered with knives, body parts or blunt objects than with rifles

 

 

Handguns
6,220
Rifles
323
Shotguns
356
Other guns
97
Firearms, type not stated
1,587
Knives or cutting instruments
1,694
Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.)
496
Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.)
728




The Facebook post and the FBI stats are closely in tune. Except for a minor typo in the Facebook post’s number for deaths by hands, fists or feet, the numbers are accurate.

The number cited for rifles was somewhat less precise. While it’s true that the FBI counted 323 murders by rifles, the agency also counted 1,587 murders by an undetermined type of firearm and 97 by "other guns." If gun usage in these two categories followed the same pattern as other gun homicides, that would add another 75 or so murders by rifle, making an estimate for the number of rifle murders about 400, rather than 323.

Still, the larger point holds: Murders by knives, blunt objects and body parts each individually outweighed those committed using a rifle.
We should note that while the Facebook post’s comparison is accurate as far as it goes, it does ignore the single biggest category of weapons used in murders -- handguns. Handguns were used in 6,220 cases, or 72 percent of all firearm murders in 2011 and slightly under half of all murders using any kind of weapon that year. 

This caveat illustrates how the selection and framing of statistics can be used to bolster one side or the other in the gun debate.


Our ruling


The post uses data selectively, ignoring the significant role of handguns in gun violence. But the statistics it mentions are solid. FBI data backs up the Facebook post’s claim that in 2011, more people were murdered with knives, "hands or feet" or "clubs and hammers" than with any type of rifle.  


We rate the statement True.



 



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