There have been many excellent articles about gun control in the media with a million times more readers or viewers than I have. So I have not felt the urge to publicize my views. Also, there is a lack of government studies since the NRA managed to prohibit the government from carrying out such studies over the last 17 years. (I guess the second amendment trumps the first amendment.)
The main point of this article is to focus on the limited study that showed that there are 22 gun deaths or injuries for every time a gun is used on an intruder to your home. The probability that the gun will be used in a completed or attempted suicide is 11 times the probability that it will be used to shoot an intruder. Use of a gun for a criminal assault or homicide occurs 7 times as often as it is used for an intruder. An unintentional shooting death or injury occurs 4 times as often as a gun is used for an intruder.
With these data, the phrase “responsible gun ownership” becomes meaningless. People do not know when in a lifetime they or a family member may become depressed enough for a moment to commit suicide. They don’t know when they may be taking a common medicine that increases the risk of depression and suicide. Suicides by gun are 90% fatal, while suicide attempts by cutting or drugs are only 3% effective. Gun owners don’t know when they might use a gun in a fit of traumatic anger, or when drunk. They don’t know what kids or teenagers would do with a gun when showing off or when facing the typical embarrassments or letdowns of youth or when facing bullying.
Comparing firearm deaths to motor vehicle deaths in 2011, from CDC tables, there were 34,677 deaths from motor vehicles, and 32,163 deaths from firearms, almost as many. The difference between the activities should be stressed. Almost everyone has to drive or ride in a motor vehicle. The number of people who really need guns to kill varmints or are policemen or guards is very small by comparison.
The other fact that shows the dangers of gun possession, is that only about 45% of households have guns. If we assume that most gun deaths occur in those households with guns, and roughly equate the number of motor vehicle and gun deaths, then if we ask what is the probability of death by a sum of motor vehicle and firearms, we find that it is three times more likely to die in a gun owning household than in a non-gun owning household by those means.
The CDC data says that in 2011 there were: 19,766 suicides by guns; 11,101 homicides by guns; and 222 discharge deaths. The FBI data is somewhat lower, showing 8,583 murders by guns in 2011. The CDC also shows that there were 73,883 non-fatal injuries from assaults. FBI data also shows that there were only 200 legally justified self defense homicides by private citizens.
Each year $2.3 billion is incurred as the lifetime cost of treating gun injuries. Half of this is paid by taxpayers.
Since 1968, over a million people in the US have been killed by guns. For comparison, US deaths in World War II were 418,000.
