If that is your position then maybe you can make an argument that people who are black shouldn't own guns.
Most people who get shot are killed by somebody they know. States with the highest incident of Death by Gun: 1. Louisiana (20.2 per 100,000) 2. Mississipi (18.3 per 100,000) 3. Alaska (17.6 per 100,000) 4. Alabama (17.5 per 100,000) 5. Nevada (16.1 per 100,000) 6. Arizona (15 per 100,000) 6. Arkansas (15 per 100,000) 6. New Mexico (15 per 100,000) 6. Tennessee (15 per 100,000) 10. West Virginia (14.7 per 100,000) Not exactly gangland is it? The biggest common factor appears to be legal access to guns.
Murder and violent crime is actually tied to ice cream consumption. Well, not really. Folks eat more ice cream in the summer. Folks are out more in the summer. Folks annoy other folks more in the summer. _
The specific numbers in that post come from http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/death-by-gun-top-20-states-with-highest-rates/ because it was the easiest representation of: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/20/gun-violence.html http://www.vpc.org/fadeathchart12.htm http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/firearms-death-rate-per-100000/ And a bunch of other studies done concurrently. The CBS numbers are based on 2005 to 2010 all gun deaths by state so I used them. Several of the links above are individual year studies. All of them share the basic fact that in cultures where guns are present guns are a major factor in non-natural morbidity. You can't argue that any law that encourages more people to carry guns is going to lead to a lower overall death by gun rate rate over time. It just doesn't make sense and the numbers don't back you up. NY has one of the lowest gun death rates in the country. It has a gun death rate of less than half the number of deaths per 100,000 compared to the states that see gun ownership as a universal right. This despite having a heavily urbanized population that includes a significant proportion of the people (minority youth) seen as most likely to kill with a gun.
- New Orleans (with a rate 62.1 gun murders per 100,000 people) would rank second in the world. - Detroit’s gun homicide rate (35.9) is just a bit less than El Salvador (39.9). - Baltimore’s rate (29.7) is not too far off that of Guatemala (34.8). - Newark (25.4) and Miami (23.7) have gun murder statistics comparable to Colombia (27.1). - Washington D.C. (19) has a higher rate of gun homicide than Brazil (18.1). http://www.globalresearch.ca/some-u...iolence-than-entire-countries/5355672?print=1 edit: didn't see your response above yet when I posted this.
The first thing that stands out is that these numbers include suicide, which is the #1 cause of gun related deaths. Using the KFF.org site where the stats were generated from I can generate this about suicides by gun per 100000 per state which not surprisingly seems to look similar to the list you posted. http://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/da...sort&direction=MEASURE_DESCEND&measure=D76.M3 We can probably figure out how to use that tool to take suicides out of the equation. I don't have time right now though.
I don't want to take suicides out of the list. You have to look at morbidity in it's entirety to get a clear picture of what the effect of a factor is. Guns definitely increase the morbidity factor in the populations they're present in. Obviously removing guns from the equation would not eliminate suicides as a category of morbidity. However removing guns from the equation would certainly lower the success rate of suicides, since suicide by gun is one of the most effective ways to kill yourself. Removing guns from the equation would likely lower the rate of impulsive suicides also. Girlfriend ditched you and you can't live without her? Better not have a gun handy. Drunk and depressed and ready to go? That gun in the drawer by your bed is calling to you. If you look into the numbers and at what actually happens in a household with guns the numbers are horrific. Women who have a gun in proximity in the household are three times more likely to die by a gun than women who live in a household without guns. Children in households with guns are much more likely to die by the gun. It's just a horrific state of affairs. How many anecdotal tales do we need before the numbers pile up and we realize that we've got an epidemic of gun violence on our hands and that it's not contained in to gang turf wars in the ghetto? If it was I'd be all for arming society against the gangs, but all those men, women and children being killed by guns outside the ghetto aren't being killed by gang members. They're being killed by family, friends and the very occasional stranger.
If you don't want to remove suicide from the equation then we can end the conversation at that. Someone killing themselves is no threat to others, which is what the core of the issue is IMO.
Anyone see the Vice piece on this? Basically all the government housing (projects etc.) was moved into Chicago. If I remember correctly, they showed this color coated map of Chicago, EACH block had a different gang representing it. The Cops and Gang members call it “Chiraq”
That's not the case though. That gun that they kill themselves with is sitting around in their house before they do the deed. It's available for an accident or an accidental homicide or whatever. Murder-suicides happen frequently, where one partner kills the other and then takes their own life. The thing I can't figure out is why people would want guns, given the risks involved and the math on guns and friend/family/acquaintance morbidity vs stranger morbidity. It's not a safety issue in terms of guns giving safety. the numbers clearly indicate that your chances to die by the gun go up when you have a gun in your house. The chances that your family members will die by the gun go up when that gun is present. The chances that you will blow your cool and shoot somebody go way up. That guy in Florida really believed he was the victim after firing into that van full of kids and killing somebody in the process. What he was the victim of was a culture that allowed him to own a gun and carry it in his vehicle so that he could one day become a murderer. Obviously there were greater victims than him in the case because they were set upon by a righteous monster who had been convinced that he had the right to shoot a gun at them in self defense, even when all they were guilty of was playing loud music. Again, this is anecdotal, but how many anecdotes do you need of this sort before you realize that gun carry laws enable monsters to walk around in the vicinity of you and your family until the day they happen to go off?
Safely stored guns sitting around the house are no threat to anyone. The media would like for us to believe that guns are actually killing without the help of a person with bad intentions but that's simply not the case. In that scenario, statistically you're still adding one to the other side of the equation. We can probably find out the numbers on murder/suicides too, but you don't care to exclude suicides at all so what would be the point? Where are the numbers to support this? I would like to see the numbers represented to the level of detail that includes homes where guns are safely stored and gun safety is taught to all household members of the appropriate age. Personally, when it comes to my household, I'm not concerned with numbers that include dumb rednecks that let their kids run around with loaded weapons as if they're toys or gang bangers shooting each other up. I believe that my household is more prepared having guns and people who are trained to properly use them. Ohhh noes - the MONSTERS. What liberal media outlet told you about them? If I ever have the unfortunate experience of encountering a MONSTER I will be prepared. Will you? BTW, violent gun crime has gone down drastically in the last 20 years. http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/08/us/study-gun-homicide/
If you have a way to hide/conceal/lock up your guns that is foolproof you should share it with the thousands of parents who have watched their child kill himself/herself or a sibling or somebody else accidentally. Secondarily, how do you know your intentions will always be good? Have you never gotten so angry you couldn't see straight? Have you never been so depressed that things seemed hopeless? Are you really sure neither of those things will occur in the future? Ok, now ask yourself the same questions about everybody you share your home with. Life is friable. It disintegrates around the edges and develops cracks up the middle and generally wears everything it touches down to the bare bones. Having a volatile element like firearms included in the equation is like storing matches around gasoline. You never know when the explosion is going to happen and it may take years and decades to happen but there is always an explosion somewhere down the road. That's the definition of death by guns in America.
How many of those occur because guns simply aren't locked up? How many occur because people in the household simply aren't educated? Hey maybe I can store my guns in a bag of toys and candy. The media likes that trick. Rule #1: Never pick up a gun in anger. One thing I know is we're all going to die. If I happen to die by gun it will probably be a quick death - which in my opinion is much more desirable than losing a long battle with cancer or whatever. Statistically it's much more likely that something else gets me though. But that's another conversation all together.
I own 2 handguns--in MY house--and my kids have never seen them. There is no possibility that my kids could EVER have shot themselves or each other. Giving the opportunity to a child to be in a position to kill himself or someone else with a household handgun is the height of stupidity. _
