Also, see post #14 for info on the author.
The suicide statistic is silly. With the number of Americans owning guns, one would expect that a high number of suicides may occur in a home with a gun. The number they quote makes me want to shrug my shoulders and say, "So what. Tell me what that means". The author just lets the reader imply that a gun in the home has something to do with one wanting to kill themself.
If it's "correct" as stated, then it's not silly - since it's a "twice as likely to" statistic instead of a "twice as MANY" statistic (which is a kind of statistic people often lie with).
What we AREN'T told (which would be quite helpful) is what the rate is to START with, nor are we given any indication of the sample size. For example, if we were told that one out of 20,000 adolescents in homes without guns commits suicide (but one out of 10,000 in homes with guns, then we have more info there.
It occurs to me as well that buried in this statistic may be the dynamic that adolescents in homes with guns are more likely to SUCCEED at a suicide attempt, for obvious reasons.
Anyway, it would be good to know more about what's behind the stat.
I would tend to agree. Statistics (especially selective statistics) without context are almost meaningless.
I read somewhere once that most people in the US die in hospitals.
Are hospitals places of death? Should we shut them down?
Or could there be a rational reason, for example, that hospitals are dispropotionately filled with sick and injured people who are more likely to die.
Likewise, "children" in gangs are probably more likely to die of gun related injuries because they are in contact with guns in their daily life.