And no, not just rhetoric. But if the goal is to stop killings....

Look at the pure numbers. The murder rate & other violent crimes are right up there with the USA. If you take away one tool, another tool will be found. Anyone ignoring this, or claiming otherwise, is delusional. Yes, of course a gun will be faster and maybe kill more depending on the location. But as you can see, knife attacks can and will be used if a scumbag wants to kill someone. The knives aren't killing people, the scumbags are. The guns don't kill people, the scumbags pull the triggers. And then explosives. One of the worst mass killings in school history was back in the 30's and was an explosive. Scumbags WILL find a way. To think otherwise and continually attacking the tool won't do a ton to keep solving these crimes. These aren't stories from yesterday, just used for comparison reasons to show the arguments to be lame.

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Knives Kill More People Each Year Than Rifles: Time For Knife Control?

According to crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), knives are consistently used to kill people far more often than rifles are used. And the numbers aren’t even close: five times as many murders were committed with knives than were committed with rifles last year.

The FBI statistics show that knives have been used as a murder weapon far more often than rifles — even those evil “assault weapons” we hear so much about — for quite a while. In 2013, knives or other cutting instruments were used to kill 1,490 victims. In contrast, rifles were the cause of death of 285 murder victims. Shotguns were used in 308 murders. In 2009, the ratio was very similar: knives were used in five times as many murders as rifles.

The 2013 numbers are even more interesting when you compare them to data from 2003, the last year in which the 1994 federal “assault weapon” ban was in effect. In 2003, 390 people were murdered with a rifle. That’s right. The number of rifle murders is 27 percent lower today — ten years after the expiration of the “assault weapon” ban — than it was in 2003, the last year “assault weapons” were banned by the federal government.

“But what about handgun murders?” you might ask. “They’re responsible for the majority of gun murders, so why don’t we just ban them and stop worrying about rifles?”

Easy: because gun bans and strict gun control don’t really prevent gun violence. Take, for example, Illinois and California. In 2013, there were 5,782 murders by handgun in the U.S. According to FBI data, 20 percent of those — 1,157 of the 5,782 handgun murders — happened in Illinois and California, which have two of the toughest state gun control regimes in the entire country. And even though California and Illinois contain about 16 percent of the nation’s population, those two states are responsible for over 20 percent of the nation’s handgun murders.

Rest - http://thefederalist.com/2014/11/11/...knife-control/


Crime/Death/Murder stats comparisons:

Country vs country: China and United States compared: Crime stats

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-...d-States/Crime


At least 28 die in 'terrorist' attack at Chinese train station: reports

BEIJING (Reuters) - At least 28 people were killed by knife-wielding attackers in a “violent terrorist attack” at a train station in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, and police shot dead five of the assailants, state media said on Sunday.

Another 113 people were wounded, the official Xinhua news agency said, revising down a previous higher figure. It said the attack had taken place late on Saturday evening.

“It was an organized, premeditated violent terrorist attack,” Xinhua said.

Police were searching for around five others of the unidentified attackers, it said.

Kunming resident Yang Haifei told Xinhua that he was buying a ticket when he saw a group of people, mostly wearing black, rush into the station and start attacking bystanders.

“I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone,” he said, adding that the attackers caught those who were slower. “They just fell on the ground.”

Graphic pictures on the Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo showed bodies covered in blood lying on the ground at the station.

State television showed police wrapping a long, sword-like knife in a plastic bag, amid heavy security at the station.

Rest - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...A200OQ20140301