From snopes.com
Claim: More homicides in the U.S. are committed with baseball bats than with firearms.
* FALSE.
[...]
However, information gathered by the FBI does not support this claim [about Bats being the more deadly]. The Uniform Crime Reports made available on the "Crime in the U.S." section of the FBI's web site includes homicide data that breaks down killings by the types of weapons used. In 2011, the percentages for weapon types used in homicides throughout the U.S. were as follows:
Firearms: 67.8%
Knives or other cutting instruments: 13.4%
Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.): 5.7%
Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.): 3.9%
Other dangerous weapons: 9.2%
Strike Three! they're out of there!
Here's some more grim stats -- that need to be extracted from our uniquely American mystique of the "wild west mentality" ...
United States -- Gun Facts, Figures and the Law
gunpolicy.org
Total Gun Deaths
In the United States, annual deaths resulting from firearms total
2011: 32,163
2010: 31,672
2009: 31,347
2008: 31,593
2007: 31,224
2006: 30,896
2005: 30,694
2004: 29,569
2003: 30,136
2002: 30,242
2001: 29,573
2000: 28,663
1999: 28,874
Rate of All Gun Deaths per 100,000 People
In the United States, the annual rate of all gun deaths per 100,000 population is
2011: 10.35
2010: 10.26
2009: 10.22
2008: 10.39
2007: 10.37
2006: 10.35
2005: 10.39
2004: 10.10
2003: 10.39
2002: 10.51
2001: 10.38
2000: 10.19
1999: 10.35
Gun Homicides
In the United States, annual firearm homicides total
2011: 11,101
2010: 11,078
2009: 11,493
2008: 12,179
2007: 12,632
2006: 12,791
2005: 12,352
2004: 11,624
2003: 11,920
2002: 11,829
2001: 11,348
2000: 10,801
1999: 10,828
1998: 9,2578
Rate of Gun Homicide per 100,000 People
In the United States, the annual rate of firearm homicide per 100,000 population is
2011: 3.65
2010: 3.59
2009: 3.75
2008: 4.01
2007: 4.19
2006: 4.29
2005: 4.18
2004: 3.97
2003: 4.11
2002: 4.11
2001: 3.98
2000: 3.84
1999: 3.88
1998: 3.37
1993: 7.07
If someone you care about, falls victim to Gun Trauma, it's quite likely to make you -- the collateral victim -- very, very MAD. And ultimately
forever sad ... as far too often
the toll that gun violence extracts,
is usually a permanent one.
Chances of it happening to you, in any given year in America, now stands at around 0.01% as of 2011 (Or about 1.3 out of 10,000 people will fall direct-victims, this year). If nothing changes. As per usual, in wild-west survivalism of dog-eat-dog America.
Those grim-reaper stats are enough to remind us, of another invisible-taker of lives ... a once-taboo societal problem that used to be way more common than it now is today ...
Drunk Driving Fatalities -- National Statistics
centurycouncil.org
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 32,885 people died in traffic crashes in 2010 in the United States (latest figures available), including an estimated 10,228 people who died in drunk driving crashes, accounting for 31% of all traffic deaths last year.
[...]
Guns like Cars,
should demand responsible operation.
Including training and certification and even registration ... all in hopes promoting an attitude of safety -- and attempting to drive down the staggering counts of these needless, senseless,
irreversible deaths ...
You wouldn't just hand over the keys ... to a grade-school kid, for your off-road SUV, would you?
SOOO, why do we metaphorically do the exactly same thing with Guns -- as some sort of shoot-em-up rite-of-passage?
Without a care in the world, where such an un-infringeable "empowerment" may eventually lead ...
So long as they don't ever, ever ban our freedom ... "to LIFE, Liberty, and the Pursuit"
... of our precious rites of passage. "Car keys please, Mom! We'll be careful, promise! ... PS. Don't wait up."