A Virginia Gun Owner

A picture is worth a thousand words, but here's the story, if you want to read it. I seem to see more of these stories coming from gun-friendly states. Do you think there's something to that? I know we have daily reports from Chicago and New York, but as the pro-gun crowd often says, they're usually drug or gang related. The stories I'm talking about are the ones which better define the gun culture.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Guns and Health

The Brady Campaign posted one of the most powerful indictments against gun owners that I've ever read. In light of the discussions and debate on the Health Care Bill, Paul Helmke put together some relevant statistics. In response to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s “manager’s amendment” (the compromise version of the health care reform bill coming out of the Senate) Mr. Helmke offered these points among others.

I wonder if Sen. Reid knows that the risk of homicide is three times higher in homes with firearms; the risk of suicide is three to five times greater; and that a gun in the home is 21 times more likely to be used against the homeowner or family member in a completed or attempted suicide, a criminal assault or homicide, or an unintentional shooting death or injury, than used in self defense.

I wonder, finally, whether Sen. Reid knows that among gun-owning parents who reported that their children had never handled their firearms at home, 22% of those children, when questioned separately, said that they had, and that of youths who committed suicide with firearms, 82% obtained the firearm from their home, usually a parent’s firearm.

How anyone in their right mind can justify owning guns in the light of these facts is beyond me. I believe gun owners who are able to be honest with themselves should immediately drop all the rationalizations and take steps to disarm. The wishes of a powerful and vocal minority should cease to prevent common sense from prevailing.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Cost of Gun Violence

Laci again provides us with a thought-provoking post.

I was curious as to how much this "Freedom" and "right" costs the American public and found John Rosenthal's December 15, 2009 post Health Care Costs and Gun Violence. He's a businessman, not a public health professional, but even being in business would give him an ability to assess the costs. He gives the figure that:

On average, guns kill or wound 276 people every day in America. Of those, 75 adults and 9 children will die. In the US there are more than 30,000 deaths and over 100,000 injuries related to gun violence each year.He also states that:

According to the Public Services Research Institute in 2008, firearm homicide and assault cost federal, state and local governments $4.7 billion annually including costs for medical care, mental health, emergency transport, police, criminal justice and lost taxes. They also state that when lost productivity, lost quality of life, and pain and suffering are added to medical costs, estimates of the annual cost of firearm violence range from $20 billion to $100 billion. According to the National Center for Disease Control, the cost of firearm fatalities is the highest of any injury-related death. In fact, the average cost of a gunshot related death is $33,000, while gun-related injuries total over $300,000 for each occurrence.

What's your opinion? Do you find those numbers compelling? What's Laci's conclusion?

Rights come with responsibilities. I think that the sale of firearms, ammunition, reloading supplies, and other gun related items should be heavily taxed to defray the cost to society since it is society that must bear the burden of their "right". But why should society be burdened and why has society allowed itself to be burdened by those who claim this right, yet are not willing to shoulder their responsibilities?

If they can't exercise their right in a responsible manner, then this right should not exist in the matter of public interest.

I wish I'd said that.