I looked on google for a list of gun lethality rating, but I couldn't find it. That list may change my opinion on this thread.
Lethality is mostly determined by the stopping power of a gun. Energy transfer is VERY relative to the "stopping power". If a small bullet travels fast and penetrates a target through and through, the energy TRANSFER is going to be very small, having little to no impact if no vital organs are struck.
A larger slower traveling round is less likely to penetrate both in and out and will end up coming to a complete halt transfering ALL of it's energy. This transfer creates involuntary spasms throughout the body, rendering the target immobile for at the very least the duration of the spasm. Most of the time when a person is shot with a large caliber handgun or rifle, they are knocked onto the ground and dazed.
Here is a "stopping power" guide for handguns.
Guide to Stopping Power
Pistols, Rifles, doesnt matter. When it comes to stopping power, the same rule always applies, slow moving, heavy bullets win.
Do you have any source for gun violence from automatic assult weapons?
I couldn't find that either.
How about--->
Since 1934, there appear to have been at least two homicides committed with legally owned automatic weapons. One was a murder committed by a law enforcement officer (as opposed to a civilian). On September 15th, 1988, a 13-year veteran of the Dayton, Ohio police department, Patrolman Roger Waller, then 32, used his fully automatic MAC-11 .380 caliber submachine gun to kill a police informant, 52-year-old Lawrence Hileman. Patrolman Waller pleaded guilty in 1990, and he and an accomplice were sentenced to 18 years in prison. The 1986 'ban' on sales of new machine guns does not apply to purchases by law enforcement or government agencies.
GunCite - Gun Control: Machine Guns
Should be a good example of how many legally owned machine guns are used in any sort of crime :2wave:
There is a difference from murder rates from guns (because most murders are from handguns as everyone says) and murder rates from other weapons.
90% of all violent crime in the U.S. does not involve any gun of any type.
* 1998 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Quick Gun Facts
As I said, there is nothing you can do with preventing most killings with handguns. Groucho Marx had a very interesting point about outlawing guns that can be concealed. But that will create an even larger underground market, and not to mention that it would be harder for people to defend themeselves with guns.
Banning the guns from law abiding citizens does nothing to stop criminals from getting and using them. Never ever works out the way people want it to.
Also, even if gun regulations on guns in general normally increases crime, the people who get the guns illegally need to get those guns from somewhere. Therefore, in the long run of having regulations on guns, as the ones that were purchased legally break down, then I would suspect that crimes rates would fall. That may take 50 years or much more though.
Imported firearms are far more accessible than legally purchased firearms form the U.S.
In south america you can buy pretty much any weapon you want for cents on the dollar. Drug smugglers, gun smugglers, etc. Are very well aware of the market for illegal (______) in the united states and believe you me, they WILL get the goods in.
The regulations imposed on civilians does not help with crime. It's that simple.