FBI Report: Hammers, Clubs and Fists Kill More Americans Than Rifles

If you subscribe to the mentality of Sen. Diane Feinstein of California and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia you better start banning tools and tying fists to our sides. The construction business is in trouble!  Since the school shooting in Connecticut, there has been a roar from the Left about an assault rifle ban and bans on all rifles. A look at statistics gives an interesting perspective. From 2005 through 2009 (and including 2011) FBI crime data shows the following statistics:

• Murders caused by hammers, clubs and fists as weapons: 7,305
• Murders caused by use of a rifle: 2,500
• Murders caused by use of a knife (years 2005-2009 only): over 8,000

If we run with Feinstein's logic we should also ban rope, twine, bedsheets, belts, wire, pillowcases since 1,740 murder victims were strangled, asphyxiated or smothered to death. And while we're at it, maybe we should ban water and fire, too, since 625 people were murdered by being intentionally burned to death or drowned!

While guns remain the No. 1 murder weapon in the U.S., the recent clamor to ban rifles doesn't really carry much logic. While there is a need for proper documentation and background checks for all gun purchases, severely restricting them will not work.

Banning alcohol in the 1920s and 1930s was called "The Noble Experiment" to rid society of crime and social ills. It was a failure and accelerated the growth of organized crime in the U.S. for about 50 years. Al Capone might still only be a regional thug if it hadn't been for booze running.

Feinstein and others are missing the point: it's not guns, knives, hammers or clubs that are the problem. It's an alarming increase in psychological disruptions and breakdowns.  Why? That's a much harder question to answer.