BY Herschel Smith
11 years, 11 months ago
Valuable statistics from New York Daily News:
The gun scourge in New York goes far beyond the assault weapons that are grabbing headlines in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., massacre.
New state stats show that firearms were responsible for more than 58% of the murders statewide last year — but the biggest problem was handguns.
Of the 769 homicides reported in 2011, 393 were the result of handguns. There were 16 deaths by shotgun, five by rifle, and 33 by an unknown “firearm-type,” the state Division of Criminal Justice Services reports.
The rest of the killings were a mix of stabbings, beatings and other assaults.
A package of new proposals that Gov. Cuomo says he’ll push to give New York the nation’s toughest gun laws would come down on the military-style assault rifles like those used to kill 26 people in Newtown and by the crazed gunman who attacked firefighters responding to a blaze in Webster, N.Y., on Monday.
But Cuomo is also mulling measures that would rein in handguns including tougher gun registration rules and limits on the size of gun magazines to no more than seven bullets.
Gasp! You mean that the dreaded and evil AR wasn’t the firearm of choice with criminals? Perhaps owning them requires productive members of society to work hard and save their money because they cost so much? Just a guess.
Take note of the other important point here. At 42%, murder by other-than-firearm accounts for nearly half the total. This is remarkable, and yet leave it to New York politicians to work hard at more of the same failed gun control policies to address the issue. In order to address crime, the Governor is proposing more rules for law-abiding citizens. If something doesn’t work, do it again … and again … and again.
