Think for Yourself

Gun Statistics

Lessons From a Lamp Post: Why the numbers don't add up. Part 3 of 4

 

Unlike Michael Moore's persuasive movie Columbine, data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice show a very weak correlation between gun-death and gun-laws, as does the Center for Disease Control which has kept data on gun-homicide despite resistance from firearm support groups. None of these studies have been able to establish a relationship of more guns equals more gun deaths. The real question is not about the number of firearm laws but whether the laws ultimately safeguard the citizens they are intended to protect.

 

Gun accidents are tragic and we tend to hear about them, but accidental gun death is relatively rare accounting for only 1.8% all gun deaths. “Undetermined” (0.7%) and “legal intervention/war” (1.0%) categories were even less likely. In the United States where “self-inflicted” death by gunshot is taken into account the thesis of more guns equals more gun deaths is supported more closely. Even though this correlation is astonishing it’s not surprising since such findings are intuitive. What is surprising is how high the gun-suicide rate actually is. As one of the “four major mechanisms of injury in 2009”, 59.8% of all “firearm injury deaths” were suicides and 36.7% were homicides. Suicide tops homicide by nearly two to one in gun-deaths.

 

So, as we enter further into the debate about firearm laws, we should keep in mind that whereas spectacular massacres with exotic weapons generate headlines, the larger numbers are composed of pensive individuals who give up fighting the forces they see arrayed against them and take the nearest exit. Unfortunately if firearms are outlawed the “nearest exit” will be something else, which is supported by countries with strict gun control laws that have higher suicide rates than those without gun control laws.

 

I would agree with the old adage that says we use statistics like a drunken person uses a lamp post, more for support than illumination. Despite the evidence, some of my friends remain convinced that the wide availability of firearms in this nation is a major factor in the rate of gun-related deaths, and they firmly believe that there is a need to reduce the number of guns. Unfortunately, this leads them to believe that removing firearms from law abiding citizens will reduce violence on the street. I believe that even if the number of guns could be reduced to zero which it can’t, crime isn’t going to go away. Guns don’t kill people and the problem isn’t the tool.