The Weapon of Choice for Murder

The two mass shooting in California that resulted in the deaths of 18 people in a period of three days were statistical outliers. Firstly, the homicide rate among Asian-American in the US is about 300 times lower than among African-Americans and 60 times lower than Non-Hispanic Whites. Secondly, mass shooting involving Asian-Americans are nearly nonexistent. And, thirdly, both mass shooting in California were by males over age 60. These shootings were events that rarely every happen for these demographics. 

The response by politicians to these shootings was the usual hand wringing. Biden said, "Our hearts are with the people of California" and called on lawmakers to bring Feinstein's bill to ban assault weapons to his desk to sign. 

But in these two cases assault weapons had absolutely nothing to do with assault weapons. In both cases semi-automatic pistols were used and purchased semi-automatic handgun was used  never are semi-automatic pistols proposed as forearm to be banned. And about 50% of all murders are committed with handguns while only 2.6% are committed with rifles. Indeed, knives are 4 times more likely to used than are rifles. 

No, folks, the firearm that is the largest threat by far is the handgun -- the pistol -- when it comes to murder and violent crimes. If the politicians really want to address gun crimes, then they must target handguns and specifically semi-automatic handguns. A ban on assault weapons is nothing more than political posturing to avoid the real issues.