There have been 121 officers killed in the line of duty so far this year.
57 were killed in vehicle collisions of some sort
12 died from heart attacks
2 died in falls
1 killed by a person with his bare hands
2 drowned
46 were after being shot by people using firearms. Of these:
3 were actually shot in previous years and died from complications in 2010 (1996, 1998, 2009)
16 were killed by people with guns of a type that I could not identify
1 was killed by a man with a shotgun
17 were killed by people wielding handguns, including
- one in American Samoa, where handgun ownership is already illegal
- one by an illegal alien with an illegally possessed handgun
- two in Puerto Rico, where permits are required to own handguns
- One, Travis Murphy of the Phoenix PD, was listed by ODMP as having been killed by a man with a rifle, but he was actually killed by a Convicted Felon who was armed with a handgun.
- One was shot by the son of a police chief using his father's weapon (in addition to the other four below)
- Four of them were killed by other police officers, or by a handgun taken from a police officer by the suspect
- One by an armed security guard during a domestic disturbance involving the guard and his wife
Of the nine killed by people wielding rifles:
1 died in a hunting accident
One was killed by a man with a .30-30
One by a man with an SKS
Two by a man with an AK-47 type rifle (the only case this year that I could confirm involved a weapon that was on the Clinton gun ban list)
In short,
- more cops are killed in traffic accidents than by gunfire
- More cops were killed by other cops' guns than by so-called assault weapons
- Of the 43 deadly police officer shootings that occurred in 2010, at least ten of them were perpetrated by people who were prohibited from gun ownership already, and therefore more gun control laws would have been useless. It was already illegal for them to have guns, and making it double illegal would have done absolutely nothing.
Source is the Officer Down Memorial Page
2 comments:
I haven't compiled stats for this year yet, but those numbers seem about right. Two things I always look at also:
1. Number of officers assaulted. There are a lot of officers assaulted every year who would have died if not for the fantastic EMS system the US now has (as compared to just a few decades ago). Also better equipment (vests and helmets) is improving the survival odds of officers.
2. Perp's prior legal status at the time of the murder. The vast majority of killers are convicted felons and, many are on probation/parole. If these guys were actually incarcerated for the crimes they were convicted of, they would not have even had the chance to kill the officer.
-Richard
I wrote a research paper on assault of police versus EMS workers, and I found this:
Healthcare providers are twice as likely, and EMS workers 15 times as likely, to be assaulted on the job than police officers or prison guards are.
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