From Randel Bird s friend Jay OConnell Interesting statistics-- Yesterday at 9:40am · So my feed is full of anecdotes; I thought Id look for some data or at least predigested data on how guns are actually used, how often they prevent and stop crime, and how often they are used to murder loved ones in homicides, suicides, and accidents with children. Found this: the-broad-side/guns-for-self-defense-myth-ve… Which includes this: In 2010, across the nation there were only 230 justifiable homicides involving a private citizen using a firearm reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program as detailed in its Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) That same year, there were 8,275 criminal gun homicides tallied in the SHR. In 2010, for every justifiable homicide in the United States involving a gun, guns were used in 36 criminal homicides. And this ratio, of course, does not take into account the thousands of lives ended in gun suicides (19,392) or unintentional shootings (606) that year. and this: But what about non-lethal use of guns? The kind the NRA is touting? The same VPC paper finds that over a five-year period, the actual incidence of people using guns in self-defense is actually 235,700, amounting to less than 1% of crimes being stopped by civilian gun use. *** We live our lives inside our own heads, and the stories we tell ourselves are so frequently more important than any objective reality. Im a really lucky person. Ive never been seriously assaulted; im a six foot tall beefy white guy who grew up in upper middle class suburbs and who has lived in a great, safe urban center, and then, a great liberal enclave of wealth and privilege. So its easy for me to see this data and draw the logical conclusion. I dont need a gun in my house. This doesnt mean I dont see the appeal, that Im not drawn to the things. that I dont unconsciously spin out scenarios in my minds eye where having one would turn me into a hero as I avert some tragedy. But I know the odds are against that. Seriously against it. And I try to listen to reason.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 23:21:51 +0000
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