America Gun Obsessed and Murdering at Epidemic Rates?

TEX · Post by **TEX** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:05 am

I always hear from anti-gun types that in the US people are killing each other with firearms at record numbers and that we are obsessed with firearms and this is why so many die from firearms. I donâ€™t really buy that argument, even if the figures may lead one to think this. I know that crime has surged in the UK and Australia, because of strong gun control laws, and I suspect that folks are being murdered at near the same rate in other large countries if the numbers were crunched the same as they are here, but just not by firearms. I also think that when an armed citizen shoots a goblin in the US, it goes down as a gun death. This coupled with the probability that many shootings are one criminal shooting another, etc. gives the numbers the ability to create a false impression.

Does anyone know of any good web sites or reference that I can use as a resources to shut down this tired old argument that we are killing each other with firearms at epidemic rates. When some one drags this argument up, I find myself without much to come back with.

Thanks - TEX

seamusTX · Post by **seamusTX** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:57 am

There's a lot of good info at http://gunfacts.info/. The U.S. has more deaths by firearms than Canada, European countries, or Japan. About 2/3 of the U.S. deaths are suicides and more than half of the remainder involve criminal activity like drug dealing. Some European countries have higher overall rates of violent crime. Japan has far more suicides, though they are accomplished by means other than firearms. Switzerland has nearly universal firearms ownership and a very low crime rate, though their incidence of wife-beating is embarrassingly high.

All these issues are far more complicated than how easy it is to legally acquire a handgun. Economic and social equality, cultural uniformity, and the presence or absence of large communities of poor people are all factors.

You really can't convince a fanatic, though. They're like people who believe the earth is flat and the moon landings were staged.

- Jim

stevie_d_64 · Post by **stevie_d_64** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:00 pm

Yeah its a shame...

With the way they put it...

But then again, if I am not mistaken, more people are killed in drunken driving incidents than are killed by guns in their wildest hallucinations...

/sarcasm button off...

seamusTX · Post by **seamusTX** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:22 pm

stevie_d_64 wrote:But then again, if I am not mistaken, more people are killed in drunken driving incidents than are killed by guns...

About 1.5 times more Americans are killed in vehicle crashes involving drunk or intoxicated drivers than homicide with firearms.

- Jim

Wildscar · Post by **Wildscar** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:27 pm

seamusTX wrote:
stevie_d_64 wrote:But then again, if I am not mistaken, more people are killed in drunken driving incidents than are killed by guns...
About 1.5 times more Americans are killed in vehicle crashes involving drunk or intoxicated drivers than homicide with firearms.

- Jim

If I'm not mistaken, a person on a motorcycle is more likely to be taken out by some one taking on a cell phone than a drunk driver.

packina45 · Post by **packina45** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:43 pm

Wildscar wrote:If I'm not mistaken, a person on a motorcycle is more likely to be taken out by some one taking on a cell phone than a drunk driver.

You got that right. I ride a bike, and the thing that scares me most is the driver in the opposing lane of traffic, talking on a cell phone and making a left turn in front of me.