Source: 2018 Crime in the United States. (Figures do not include “Firearms, type not stated.”)
Governor Ralph Northam has just introduced his “Virginia 2020 Plan” outlining his legislative priorities for the 2020 General Assembly session. His summary of the plan says this about gun control:
Advance common-sense gun safety measures. Keep prohibited persons away from firearms. Universal background checks. “Red flag” law. Restore longstanding “1 handgun a month” law.
What? Nothing about bump stocks and assault weapons? Has Northam backed off the idea of restricting gun types in favor of keeping “prohibited” people (domestic abusers, the mentally ill) away from firearms? If so, that’s a move in the right direction.
From the national data above, taken from the 2018 Crime in the United States report, we can see that “rifles” — a much broader category than than assault weapons — account for only a tiny fraction of murders in the U.S. Americans kill other Americans more frequently with “blunt objects” (clubs, hammers, etc.) and “personal weapons” (fists, feet, other bodily parts) than with rifles. (Reminds me of the old joke, “I practice martial arts — I have to register my hands as deadly weapons.”)
Clearly, handguns are where the action is. If we’re going to enact gun control, that’s where we need to focus.
— JAB
