Is Sam Adams’ plan to reduce handgun use in Portland based on realistic numbers? You be the judge but here’s something unmistakable. If 40% of the homicides are caused by guns and Adams goes after them, why doesn’t he go after knives since 30% of the homicides are caused by stabbings?

Adams recently introduced and the council passed a plan to keep guns out of the hands of felons who have been picked up for gun violations before. See the plan here. 

The mayor’s office pointed to statistics showing that four out of ten of the murders in Portland involved guns. He claimed ‘something must be done’ about guns. I agree something must be done to keep guns out of the hands of felons. That’s why there’s already a law against it. However, the Zero’s politifact columnist decided to check out Adams’ statistics. She found them correct. See her findings here. Four out of ten homicides occur with a gun. However, as we see here further in her story:

The deaths reported in our review adds up to 102 homicides, of which 42 involved firearms, or a ratio of 4.1 out of 10. All figures back up the mayor’s claim. About four of 10 homicides in the city involve guns. Knives and other cutters come in second, with nearly three of 10 homicides.

What threshold does one have to cross in order to get Adams’ attention on knives? Shouldn’t ‘something be done’ about knives since they’re used in three out of ten homicides? Can we expect to see a five point plan to keep knives out of the hands of known felons?
Worse, many homicides involve strangling! Strangling is a very personal way to kill someone.

2010: 25 homicides to date, 11 involved firearms, seven people were stabbed and two were strangled.

Strangling is a whopping 8% of the homicides! Shouldn’t we as a city ‘do something’ about that as well?
Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Knives don’t kill people, people kill people. And they’ll use whatever they have available.
Perhaps Adams and the rest of the Rainbow City Council should convince Multnomah County to give up their coddling of youthful offenders so they don’t grow up to be killers who will use any weapon at their disposal to murder.