The New York Times has a chilling graphical representation of daily gun deaths. Homicide, Suicide and Accidents/Legal police action.
In 2004 an average of 84 people died from guns every day in the USA (29 569 gun deaths in 2004). The New York Times graphic shows a breakdown of these 84. Statistics by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Terrifying. As an American I am shocked and appalled by the blood thirsty American way.
It is scary that a document written in the age of the muzzle loader can still be used to legitimize semi-automatic weapons with armor piercing ammunition…
The Justice Department 2005 says that 561 times a day, women use guns to protect themselves against sexual assault. P.S. It is approximately 80.5 according to the graph its rounded up to 81. Now 45 were suicides and 32 homicides and 4 were police shootings/accidents. Many rapes end in death, for many it is so traumatic abuse for the victim they commit suicide, (like a girl I knew), but all of there lives will be dramatically changed. Every day Women obeying Right to Cary laws in 40 states use there guns 561 times a day stop a rape. This not taking into account that guns deter crime. When DC enacted their hand gun ban. Crime rose 200 percent over two years. When Florida enacted right to carry laws the crime rate dropped 89% (US justice department stats.) Contrast that number to the 35 who died not of their own choice Some of those were criminals shot by the police. People who are very determined to kill themselves will. Also people who are going to commit murder most of them are going to anyway. Guns are a recent development and murder is as old as cain and able…
Kurt -
Women protect themselves against rape 561 times per day?
Not bloody likely!
This “statistic”, like so many based on self-reporting, is almost certainly inflated and unreliable.
First point: Even the gun industry estimates that less than 1% of women carry firearms. This would indicate that the number of sexual assaults is conservatively 561 x 365 x 100 or more than 20.4 million per year! This is more than 8x the number reported by the DOJ.
Second point: How likely is it that a woman will be able to use a firearm to resist a rapist, once physical contact has been made? In other words, how likely is it that a woman could produce a weapon from her pocket or purse (or wherever!) and use it to threaten a man who has actually laid hands on her compared to the likelihood that the weapon would be taken away and turned on her instead? Would you bet your wife’s (girl friend’s, sister’s, daughter’s …) life on her ability to do that?
The only reasonable conclusion is that the vast majority of those 561 supposedly thwarted rape attempts involved women who assumed they were going to be attacked and used a gun to threaten their presumed attacker, before he actually made physical contact.
And how reliable are such estimates? You tell me.
Like every gun advocate from Gary Kleck to the NRA, you don’t care what kind of bogus data you use, just as long as it seems to support your position.
Compared to your highly questionable statistics, the number of gun deaths in the United States compared to every other civilized nation on Earth is an undeniable fact. And it will continue to be fact, as long as people like you continue to spread spurious information and gun-lobby propaganda. If it were up to me, I’d ship you all off to some island, where you could kill each other to your heart’s content and leave us sane people alone!
Natural selection at work
In the year 2004 39,189 people were killed in traffic accidents, Maybe we should ban all cars? Or is only a handfull of people responsable for these deaths.I’ve been a gun owner all my life and I can tell you for a fact that Kennedy’s car has killed more people than any of my guns ever have!!!!
Dear AJ
Fear of weapons is a sign of sexual immaturity.
Signed,
Freud
Dear Sigmund,
Whatever do you base this nugget of wisdom on?
‘SIGMUND’: Ummmmm…..that may be ‘a love of weapons is a sign of sexual immaturity’….best check with a psychologist/psychiatrist on that one….
Ban all guns – good idea America! – one day (if they allow you to live) you will be completely free to do whatever the federal governement tells you.
Klang, whether its a muzzle loader, an AK, or some futuristic lazer out of star treck, the document your reffering too will still be in place for the same reason, to defend ourselves against a corrupt government. Our founding fathers put the second amendment in place as a fail safe, so that the average citizen would have the ability to rebel if our government took a turn for the worse. Carl is right, if you choose to be the mindless sheep and follow your honest and caring leaders, then you already made the first mistake, this is America, we are the leaders, not congress, not the president, we are, it is their job to serve us. If you choose to give up all of your authority over them, first your guns, then you right to vote, then you have no more control, they do. If this society appeals to you, please buy the next plain ticket to China, they will gladly welcome you, because we don’t want you here.
Eric,
Please don’t be so mindlessly predictable! There are many countries which have both democracy and gun control. The founding fathers were concerned for many things which we no longer have to worry about – that’s progress. Your desire to carry a gun in a civilized society makes you suspiciously primitive. Your use of a 300 year old argument without looking to see that the world has changed proves that you are primitive.
ps. In 300 years US citizens have not needed their guns. Maybe the fathers were wrong? Or maybe (the truth) they are being misinterpreted by gun nuts to promote an interest which has absolutely nothing to do with democracy or freedom.
Mathias
i think that gun control should always be imposed at all times to reduce violence..;`
i always thought that gun control should be mandatory in all places*~: