Since the media loves to stir things up whenever we have some whackjob shoot up a school or movie theater, here’s a little bit of midterm election perspective –
Death statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) coupled with crime statistics from the FBI show that bicycle and falling deaths far exceed deaths from "mass shootings."
For example, on September 24 the FBI released a study showing there were 64 incidents of "mass killings" (mass shootings) for the years 2000 through 2013. The gunmen in these incidents took the lives of 418 people.
Breitbart News reported that The New York Times and AP jumped all over the study, producing headlines about how "mass shootings" are on the rise and crafting stories that revolved around the attacks at Sandy Hook Elementary and the Aurora movie theater.
The 418 people who were killed over a 14-year period works out to an average of 29.8 persons a year.
To be clear, no one wants to see even one life lost to tragedy, but the mainstream media’s focus on "mass shootings" to the detriment of other news where hundreds or even thousands more lives were lost is telling.
For example, the CDC bicycle-related injury report for 2010 shows that almost twice as many people died on bicycles in that one year than were killed in "mass shootings" during the 14 years studied by the FBI. Thus, while there were 418 deaths in "mass shootings" from 2000 to 2013, there were 800 deaths by bicycle in 2010 alone.
Moreover, there "were an estimated 515,000 emergency department visits" due to bicycle accidents.
And CDC death statistics for 2010 show there were 26,009 deaths from "falling" for that year alone. That’s right–26,009 deaths in one year from falls from ladders, counters, roofs, mountains, etc.
There were an average of 29.8 deaths a year for 14 years from "mass shootings."
And the second article –
According to FBI crime statistics and the bureau’s recent study on "active shooter" incidents (ACIs) in the US, far more people are murdered with fire than are killed in mass shootings.
Moreover, the number of people killed each year with "personal weapons," such as "feet" and "fists," nearly eclipses the number of people killed in mass shootings.
On September 24, the FBI released their study on ACIs showing 418 deaths in mass shootings–or "mass killings"–from 2000 to 2013. On paper, that works out to an average of 29.8 murders in mass shootings each year for those 14 years. But FBI crime stats for murder by other means show that the gap between those killed in mass shootings and those killed with more rudimentary weapons is staggering.
For example, the stats show 580 murders committed with fire from 2006 through 2011 alone. That’s 162 more murders by fire in six years than the total number of murders via mass shooters for the 14-year period studied by the FBI.
Moreover, there were 4,873 murders committed with "personal weapons" like "feet" and "fists" and 10,769 murders committed with "knives and cutting instruments" from 2006 through 2011 alone. That is an average of 812 persons killed each of those years with weapons like "feet" and "fists" and an average of 1,794.8 stabbed to death annually during that same period.
But The New York Times’ headline on September 24 read: "FBI Confirms Sharp Rise in Mass Shootings Since 2000."
Guess we better ban bikes, ladders, knives, and fire, ay? Please remember this crap when you go to cast your votes in November. I’m a staunch independent, btw, so I’m not a Republican and I’m sure as hell not a Democrat! That being said, there’s some bad shit going on right now, and it’s time for the people to start taking this country back from the incompetent would be tyrants. Cast your votes well! :popcorn: