The important thing right now is that we not offend the nation's gun apologists

[LiberalLovinLug]

78. Of course both are horrible ways to die

And of course there are all kinds of moving variables. Like you mentioned. If it is a butcher knife up close in the chest vs. a .50 from a distance where no vital organs are hit. But on balance, overall, a gunshot is much more deadly. Here is a study done comparing the two and the fatality rates:

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/news_releases/2014/01/band/

The study, published online ahead of print in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, examined 4,122 patients taken to eight Level I and Level II adult trauma centers in Philadelphia between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2007. Of these, 2,961 were transported by EMS and 1,161 by the police. The overall mortality rate was 27.4 percent. Just over three quarters (77.9 percent) of the victims suffered gunshot wounds, and just under a quarter (22.1 percent) suffered stab wounds. The majority of patients in both groups (84.1 percent) had signs of life on delivery to the hospital. A third of patients with gunshot wounds (33.0 percent) died compared with 7.7 percent of patients with stab wounds.

But beyond even that, it is much harder for someone, both physically, and emotionally, to go through with the up close and personal and bloody act of sticking a knife in another human compared to pointing a gun at someone from distance, where the victim doesn't even have to be aware of their impending doom, and pulling a trigger.