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Posted on 05/23/2012 4:26:04 AM PDT by marktwain
The Violence Policy Center released a report today that analyzed and compared firearm and motor vehicle related deaths for the year 2009 on a state-by-state basis. They found that in ten states firearm related deaths outnumbered deaths caused by motor vehicles. These states are Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and Washington
VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand states, “Americans are reaping the benefits of smart safety regulation of motor vehicles. The idea that gun deaths exceed motor vehicle deaths in 10 states is stunning when one considers that 90 percent of American households own a car while fewer than a third own firearms. It is also important to consider that motor vehicles--unlike guns--are essential to the functioning of the entire U.S. economy. It is time to end firearms’ status as the last unregulated consumer product.”
As a result of their study, the Violence Policy Center has proposed a number of regulations, bans, restrictions, and enforcement actions.
Comprehensive regulation of the firearms industry and its products could include: minimum safety standards (i.e., specific design standards and the requirement of safety devices); bans on certain types of firearms such as “junk guns” and military-style assault weapons; limits on firepower; restrictions on gun possession by those convicted of a violent misdemeanor; heightened restrictions on the carrying of loaded guns in public; improved enforcement of current laws restricting gun possession by persons with histories of domestic violence; more detailed and timely data collection on gun production, sales, use in crime, involvement in injury and death; and, public education about the extreme risks associated with exposure to firearms.America is reaping the benefits of decades of successful injury prevention strategies on its highways, but continues to pay an unacceptable, yet equally preventable, price in lives lost every year to gun violence.
There is only one little problem with their study and recommendations. They have aggregated all deaths from the use of a firearm - homicides, legal interventions (police shootings), suicides, and accidents - into what they call gun violence. In each of the ten states listed, suicides comprise the vast majority of firearm-related deaths. Homicides and legal interventions comprise only a fraction of the firearms-related deaths. This ranges from a low of 14% in Utah to a high of 46% in Michigan.
If you look at their recommendations, they do nothing to reduce suicide. Does it really matter to a person who is intent on committing suicide that they can't use "junk" guns (sic) or a "assault weapon" (sic) or that there are restrictions on concealed carry? We all know the answer is an unequivocal no.
Suicide is a sad thing. It is painful for those left behind who are left wondering why. It is hard on the law enforcement, EMT, and medical personnel who have to deal with the aftermath. And it is extremely sad that someone has given up all hope of living and decided to take their own life.
If the Violence Policy Center really wanted to propose something useful, they would push for more suicide hotlines. They would advocate for putting mental health treatment on par with other healthcare and not have it treated as a second class illness. They would conduct research into the root causes of suicide.
If VPC really wanted to look at the numbers, it would find that there were more suicides - 36,909 - than deaths from motor vehicles and only about half of those were committed with a firearm. Moreover, deaths from suffocation (hanging) and poisoning outnumbered homicides by almost 4,000 deaths.
VPC doesn't really want to propose useful solutions nor do they really want to look at the numbers. They do junk research to promote their gun prohibitionist agenda and to continue getting money from the deep pockets of organizations like the Joyce Foundation. It is actually rather pathetic.
We have done an astonishingly good job.
Gun laws do not reduce the overall suicide rate.
One statistic I saw listed 65% of those who were homicide victims had criminal records
Mostly gang bangers settling issues usually over drugs
In forty states automobile deaths outnumber firearm deaths. In 80% of the states there are not benefits of to all the regulations especially considering firearms kill on their own.
???
These statistics are ridiculous.
What is the purpose of buying a car? Transportation. The purpose of guns? Fundamentally, as weaponry, even if not used for that purpose.
A good analogy of these statistics would be to compare the number of people killed in plane crashes to the number who die on the table during surgery.
Surgery is a good analogy to guns, because it is often used for good purposes, sometimes for bad purposes, sometimes unnecessarily or cosmetically. It often saves lives, but can also end lives.
We have GOT to get these deadly weapons out of the hands of irresponsible governmental employees. Once all the citizenry is armed, that'll be possible.
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