Comment Re:Now all we need... (Score 0) 1089
Where do I begin?...
The Department of Justice sponsored 1994 survey "Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms", this survey estimated that 1.5 million defensive gun uses occured per year by law abiding citizens.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/165476.pdf
Fatal gun accidents declined by nearly 60% from 1975 to 1995, while the number of guns per capita increased by nearly 40%. Fatal gun accidents involving children ages 0-14 fell from 495 in 1975, to under 250 in 1995. According to the National Safety Council, Injury Facts, 2001 Edition, estimated deaths due to fatal gun accidents were approximately 600, this covered ages 0-75+. Suffocation by ingested objects caused approximately 3,400 deaths, drowning 3,900, poisoning by solids and liquids 11,700.
According to the book (Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control, 2001) by Gary Kleck, Florida State University criminologist, using the figures from the Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey (1992-1998).
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm
"These data indicate that victims who use guns for self-protection actually face less favorable circumstances than other victims, and that the post-self-protection injury rates for defensive gun use, low though they are, may still be misleadingly high compared to tother self-protection measures because victims who used guns faced tougher crime circumstances. More dangerous situations apparently prompt victims to adopt more dangerous self-protection measures. Two pieces of information available in the NCVS support this view. First, victims who used guns were substantially more likely than victims in general or victims using other self-protection measures to face offenders armed with guns -- 32.7 percent of victims who attacked the offender with a gun, and 21.8 percent of those who threatened the offender with a gun, and 21.8 percent of those who threatened the offender with a gun, faced offenders with guns, compared to only 6.8 percent of all victims who used self-protection measures, and 2.2 percent of all victims. Second, victims who used guns were more likely to face multiple offenders -- 33.2 percent of victims who attacked offenders with a gun and 34.5 percent of those who threatened with a gun confronted multiple adversaries, compared to 20.6 percent of all those who used self-protection measures, and 6.2 percent of all victims. These findings are consistent with the view that crime circumstances likely to appear more dangerous to victims are more likely to push victims into using guns. They are contrary to the speculation that crime outcomes are better for gun-wielding victims merely because other circumstances of the crime made successful outcomes more likely." pages 291-292
"The risk of being a victim of a fatal gun accident can be better appreciated if it is compared to a more familiar risk...Each year about five hundred children under the age of five accidentally drown in residential swimming pools, compared to about forty killed in gun accidents, despite the fact that there are only about five million households with swimming pools, compared to at least 43 million with guns. Thus, based on owning households, the risk of a fatal accident among small children is over one hundred times higher for swimming pools than for guns." page 296
"Most gun accidents occur in the home, many (perhaps most) of them involving guns kept for defense. However, very few accidents occur in connection with actual defensive uses of guns. Gun accidents are generally committed by unusually reckless people with records of heavy drinking, repeated involvement in automobile crashes, many traffic citations, and prior arrests for assault. Gun accidents, then, involve a rare and atypical subset of the population, as both shooters and victims. They rarely involve children, and most commonly involve adolescents and young adults." page 321
The Department of Justice sponsored 1994 survey "Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms", this survey estimated that 1.5 million defensive gun uses occured per year by law abiding citizens.
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/165476.pdf
Fatal gun accidents declined by nearly 60% from 1975 to 1995, while the number of guns per capita increased by nearly 40%. Fatal gun accidents involving children ages 0-14 fell from 495 in 1975, to under 250 in 1995. According to the National Safety Council, Injury Facts, 2001 Edition, estimated deaths due to fatal gun accidents were approximately 600, this covered ages 0-75+. Suffocation by ingested objects caused approximately 3,400 deaths, drowning 3,900, poisoning by solids and liquids 11,700.
According to the book (Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control, 2001) by Gary Kleck, Florida State University criminologist, using the figures from the Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey (1992-1998).
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm
"These data indicate that victims who use guns for self-protection actually face less favorable circumstances than other victims, and that the post-self-protection injury rates for defensive gun use, low though they are, may still be misleadingly high compared to tother self-protection measures because victims who used guns faced tougher crime circumstances. More dangerous situations apparently prompt victims to adopt more dangerous self-protection measures. Two pieces of information available in the NCVS support this view. First, victims who used guns were substantially more likely than victims in general or victims using other self-protection measures to face offenders armed with guns -- 32.7 percent of victims who attacked the offender with a gun, and 21.8 percent of those who threatened the offender with a gun, and 21.8 percent of those who threatened the offender with a gun, faced offenders with guns, compared to only 6.8 percent of all victims who used self-protection measures, and 2.2 percent of all victims. Second, victims who used guns were more likely to face multiple offenders -- 33.2 percent of victims who attacked offenders with a gun and 34.5 percent of those who threatened with a gun confronted multiple adversaries, compared to 20.6 percent of all those who used self-protection measures, and 6.2 percent of all victims. These findings are consistent with the view that crime circumstances likely to appear more dangerous to victims are more likely to push victims into using guns. They are contrary to the speculation that crime outcomes are better for gun-wielding victims merely because other circumstances of the crime made successful outcomes more likely." pages 291-292
"The risk of being a victim of a fatal gun accident can be better appreciated if it is compared to a more familiar risk...Each year about five hundred children under the age of five accidentally drown in residential swimming pools, compared to about forty killed in gun accidents, despite the fact that there are only about five million households with swimming pools, compared to at least 43 million with guns. Thus, based on owning households, the risk of a fatal accident among small children is over one hundred times higher for swimming pools than for guns." page 296
"Most gun accidents occur in the home, many (perhaps most) of them involving guns kept for defense. However, very few accidents occur in connection with actual defensive uses of guns. Gun accidents are generally committed by unusually reckless people with records of heavy drinking, repeated involvement in automobile crashes, many traffic citations, and prior arrests for assault. Gun accidents, then, involve a rare and atypical subset of the population, as both shooters and victims. They rarely involve children, and most commonly involve adolescents and young adults." page 321
