You can't massacre a large number of people quickly with a knife. You also can't threaten and control as many people, because they only need to get out of arm's reach to be out of the assailant's power. There's also a certain psychology involved -- many who wouldn't hesitate to wield a gun would be too squeamish to use a knife, and they also risk their victim fighting back. There's also the fact that knives, frying pans, or what-have-you used in impulsive crimes are less likely to inflict lethal damage than a gun.
I know that gun control doesn't work -- that's a well established fact. It doesn't address the larger cultural issue that seems to invoke higher rates of firearm related violence in the United States. And my point was it *is* a higher rate, not merely a figment of a larger population base. I don't have numbers to hand for the last 5 years, and the numbers have come down somewhat, but they're still more than twice that of other developed nations in general. Why is that? (I'm not talking about extreme cases like this recent massacre, or serial killers, or the other extremes which can happen anywhere. By that I mean that average homicides are more likely to involve a firearm.) I don't have an answer -- I don't think anyone does, or they would be able to work out a solution. While it's not a root cause, the fact that so many of the general population are armed, though, is certainly a contributing factor.
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I know that gun control doesn't work -- that's a well established fact. It doesn't address the larger cultural issue that seems to invoke higher rates of firearm related violence in the United States. And my point was it *is* a higher rate, not merely a figment of a larger population base. I don't have numbers to hand for the last 5 years, and the numbers have come down somewhat, but they're still more than twice that of other developed nations in general. Why is that? (I'm not talking about extreme cases like this recent massacre, or serial killers, or the other extremes which can happen anywhere. By that I mean that average homicides are more likely to involve a firearm.) I don't have an answer -- I don't think anyone does, or they would be able to work out a solution. While it's not a root cause, the fact that so many of the general population are armed, though, is certainly a contributing factor.