Quote:
Originally Posted by bitermer
This would seem a flawed motivation as statistically a gun owner suffers a significantly higher mortality rate. Furthermore, firearm mortality is now higher than motor vehicle mortality per year, over 33,000 deaths and mass shootings are approaching 1 per day in the US.
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In order for any statistic to be meaningful you have to dig in and understand the sample core. For instance, the gun vs car deaths is only true if you cherry pick from certain states (and leave others completely out). The correct byline is something to the effect of Gun deaths outpace vehicle deaths in 22 states. In addition to this is how vehicle deaths are classified when you die in a hospital after a car accident, check out the
CDC Coroners Handbook for some interesting reading.
What further (and very purposefully) complicates any statistic with gun violence is that the number is artificially and resolutely inflated when comparing like stats. 64% of all gun related deaths are suicide* not homicide or other violence. Guns are the only tool of suicide treated in this way, being double billed in statistics as both suicide and violence. As an example when someone commits suicide with a vehicle it is not included in the vehicle mortality statistics it is included in the national suicide rate like any other suicide that is not gun related.
*side note; i'm at work so had to use a
NYTimes article as a reference.
Edit:
On a side note I volunteer with my States Department of Conservation every spring to teach hunter safety classes to 8-16 year olds so they can get their hunters licenses. I am a firm proponent of not only ownership but firearm education for everyone, as I believe if you teach a child firearm responsibility they are much less likely to see a gun as a toy to play with if found.