New York Rep. Charlie Rangel appeared on MSNBC this morning to opine about the assault weapons ban getting dropped from the Senate gun-control bill. He made a few claims about politics as usual and the power money can have in this type of a case, but his most noteworthy comment was about his knowledge on crime statistics.
“I’m ashamed to admit it but its politics and its money, The NRA has taken this position, there is no reason, there is no foundation. There is no hunter that needs automatic military weapons to enjoy the culture of going hunting,” the Democrat told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing.
“We’re talking about millions of kids dying — being shot down by assault weapons,” he continued. “Were talking about handguns easier in the inner cities, to get these guns in the inner cities, than to get computers. This is not just a political issue, it’s a moral issue…”
The FBI’s 2011 data says only 323 people were killed by rifles, compared to 728 people who were killed by hands, fists, feet etc. Handguns are much more likely to be used in a homicide with 6,220 killed nationwide in 2011. Read more here.
I wrote about this exact topic on WeLikeShooting.com, if you want to see the details on the actual FBI crime statistics – please read my article “Is an AR-15 the deadliest rifle? Can you handle the truth?”
And the truly sad point is, not a SINGLE media person called him on the outright lie…
Death Statistics…
Major cardiovascular diseases (can be prevented by exercise and a healthy diet) 780,213
Malignant neoplasms (i.e. cancer) 574,743
Influenza and pneumonia (i.e. the flu) 50,097
Drug-induced deaths (aren’t drugs illegal?) 40,393
Alcohol-induced deaths 25,692
Assault (homicide) 16,259
Assault (homicide) by discharge of firearms 11,078
I believe, as a society our efforts would be better spent if we got off our butts and exercised, concentrated more on finding the cure for cancer, washed our hands, didn’t take drugs, laid off the booze, promoted gun safety, and left people who own their guns for protection alone. Need I say more?
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/deaths_2010_release.pdf
I was driving into work and heard this nonsense. And as Old NFO points out, no one called the guy on it. . . Sad. . .