Wait a minute. Doesn't that chart show gun deaths INCREASING since about the year 2000? That's not what our pro-gun friends keep telling us. Thaaat's why they always go back to 1993. Now I get it.
Tho obvious point of the chart is that the much beloved car comparisons will soon be a thing of the past. For me, they never worked anyway. But the poor, persecuted gun-rights fanatics are going to be minus one of their favorite talking points come 2015.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
1. The U.S. population in 1993 was nearly 258,000,000. We now have almost 316,000,000. With that increase in the number of people in this country, the number of firearms deaths from all causes remains about constant.
ReplyDelete2. The number of firearms homicides in 1993 was a little over 18,000. In 2010, that number was about 11,000. That's a rate of 7 per 100,000 in 1993 and 3.6 per 100,000 in 2010.
3. As always, suicide makes up the majority of firearms deaths. As I and others have shown you repeatedly, suicide rates are unaffected by gun laws.
MikeB: “That's not what our pro-gun friends keep telling us. Thaaat's why they always go back to 1993. Now I get it.”
ReplyDeleteOnce again, they are talking “gun deaths”, and you are comparing it to a time when one of us was talking about murder or even murder with a firearm. They are not the same stat, why do you persistently act like they are?
Go back and read this. This is probably what you are talking about. See how it is not the same stat?
http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2013/05/forbes-op-ed-utilizes-two-favorite-pro.html
Are you saying that since 2000, overall homicides are going down but gun homicides are going up? What would that have to do with this chart anyway, which compares gun deaths to car deaths?
DeletePlease memorize these rough definitions:
DeleteMurder: intentional and unlawful killing of another person.
Homicide: in addition to murders includes things like gross negligence and also lawful killings.
Gun homicide: a homicide that happens with a gun.
Gun deaths: a culmination of gun homicides, gun suicides, and accidental death by gun.
Since 2000, gun homicides have been going down (along with total murder rates) while "gun deaths" have been creeping up. Does that make sence how that can be?
Your wrong. I posted a neat little chart today to prove it.
DeleteA neat little chart that covers the first third of the period in question. Golly, Mike, You showed him!
DeleteYour neat little chart has no source and ends in 2004, but perhaps you were hoping we'd ignore the man behind the curtain?
DeleteYour neat little chart is convieniently missing the last 8 years of data.
DeleteGinx
DeleteTo be fair, they must include garage CO poisoning suicides caused by cars (not just traffic accidents), if they are going to compare it to “gun deaths”.
ReplyDeleteI think that's a joke. Is it a joke?
DeleteSure, Mike; laugh it off as a joke and pretend you can't see the logic--both are the use of the device in question, in a way other than how the manufacturer intended, to commit suicide.
DeleteWhy would it be? If the total number of deaths caused by a particular device--regardless of type, whether homicide, suicide, or accident--are to be considered, then we have to look at the total number.
DeleteNo joke. Apples to apples.
Delete