Gun accidents? Guns are dangrous?

[bkholdem]

41,650 deaths related to motor vehicle accidents,
17,229 in falls at home and on the job,
3,306 from water in drowning,
19,457 from poisoning, in the same year,
3,369 due to fire or burns,
3,200 due to choking, and
900 from guns
Note that the top category of vehicle accidents is 45 times greater than the bottom
category of guns. Should we outlaw cars, and ladders?

If guns are so dangerous, why is it like 18 or so times more likely to die from a fall? lol

http://www.lindleyonline.com/gunstats/stats.htm

[tehox]

Speaking for myself, my major concern is not about what happens when guns are used accidentally.

[bkholdem]

Guns save lives and strict laws resticting gun ownership and rights to carry directly result in muders, rapes, aggravated assaults, and robberies:

Concealed carry laws help reduce crime

* Nationwide: one-half million self-defense uses. Every year, as many as one-half million citizens defend themselves with a firearm away from home.9
* Concealed carry laws are dropping crime rates across the country. A comprehensive national study determined in 1996 that violent crime fell after states made it legal to carry concealed firearms. The results of the study showed:
* States which passed concealed carry laws reduced their murder rate by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults by 7% and robbery by 3%;10 and
* If those states not having concealed carry laws had adopted such laws in 1992, then approximately 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes, 60,000 aggravated assaults and over 11,000 robberies would have been avoided yearly.11

http://www.gunowners.org/sk0802.htm

[andyfox]

From 1990 to 1997, there were 293,781 firearm deaths in the U.S. Yeah, guns and cars are dangerous.

[BPA234]

[ QUOTE ]
From 1990 to 1997, there were 293,781 firearm deaths in the U.S. Yeah, guns and cars are dangerous.

[/ QUOTE ]

When I read your post, I thought, that can't be right. Then I remembered that the early and middle 90's were extremely violent. I believe those were the peak years for the crack epidemic and the media-generated, super-predators.

If you look at the numbers from 1981-2000, they flatten out somewhat and breakdown as follows:

Suicides 354,540
Homicides 281,904
Unintentional 27,470
Intervention by Law Enforcement 5,546
Unknown 8,602

I took the above information from an anti-handgun organization's website. Which can be found here http://www.doctorsagainsthandguninju...gun_injury.pdf

Compelling and interesting reading. For the record, I own a handgun and have owned several different types of guns since I was 18. I am a supporter of the 2nd Amendment.

[andyfox]

For the record:

-I have been consistently anti-gun throughout my life

-I believe the 2nd amendment has nothing to do with a person's right to own a handgun for self-defense. (You can check out recent threads on this where I made my case.)

-I am beginning to reconsider my anti-gun stance.

-OP's implied assertion that guns are not dangerous because there are more accidental deaths from other causes strikes me as wrong. If we define dangerous as "likely to cause harm or injury," guns are certainly dangerous.

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
For the record:


-I am beginning to reconsider my anti-gun stance.



[/ QUOTE ]

Good. Whatever you may finally decide on this, to occasionally reconsider core beliefs or a firmly held lifelong stance is a wise thing to do.

-Zeno

[BPA234]

I don't see how anyone can say that guns are not dangerous. As a matter of fact, IMO, anyone who would say that guns are not dangerous, automatically increases a guns inherent danger.

I think the numbers I listed and the other statistics that can be found on the website I linked in my other post, clearly demonstrate that guns are dangerous.

[Edge34]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't see how anyone can say that guns are not dangerous. As a matter of fact, IMO, anyone who would say that guns are not dangerous, automatically increases a guns inherent danger.

I think the numbers I listed and the other statistics that can be found on the website I linked in my other post, clearly demonstrate that guns are dangerous.

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course guns are dangerous. Much in the same way knives or cars are dangerous.

In the hands of responsible people, any potential damage is minimal.

In the hands of someone who wants to do damage, well, they're going to do damage anyway they want or can.

Nobody has ever said guns are not dangerous, and I have no idea where you got that idea.

[Kaj]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't see how anyone can say that guns are not dangerous. As a matter of fact, IMO, anyone who would say that guns are not dangerous, automatically increases a guns inherent danger.

I think the numbers I listed and the other statistics that can be found on the website I linked in my other post, clearly demonstrate that guns are dangerous.

[/ QUOTE ]

It seems disingenuous to include suicide (the #1 category in your stats) as part of the "guns are dangerous" argument since the point of suicide is to intentionally harm yourself. If a significant portion of the suicides were instead committed by people jumping off buildings, bridges, and other means, society would in fact be more dangerous for most people.