Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Gun Availability is the Problem

Business Insider

When Americans kill one another, they usually use a gun. In fact, Americans use guns to murder each other twice as often as they use any other murder weapons. The states with the loosest regulation of firearms — congregated in the south and southwest — also have the highest number of annual deaths by gun. Generally, when Americans kill they usually use a handgun.

7 comments:

  1. Note the lack of correlation between gun laws and gun deaths in the second image. If gun laws saved lives, Illinois would look significantly different from Wisconsin, and Iowa would be red.

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  2. Mike, this article simply baffles me. The author uses data that in one slide shows a decline in households with guns, and also an increase in a different slide. He does the same thing with data showing both a rise in violent crime and a decline. Though he is honest, or clueless enough to show in some slides how Mexico far surpasses the US in violent crime even though there is a very low level of legal civilian gun ownership.

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  3. Another "gun death" stat (middle graph). Didn't we agree that it is dishonest?

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    1. No, not unless it's being passed off as overall deaths. In this case it's not.

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    2. It's the same thing we talked about. They're linking the presence of guns to death by guns with no regard for whether or not more people are dying violently.

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  4. The pie graphs look reasonably accurate.

    The color coded map of the U.S. is totally wrong.

    The overall homicide rate in the U.S.(regardless of weapon) was around 4.2 homicides per 100,000 in 2011 and yet the map clearly indicates a much higher homicide rate due to firearms alone. That is impossible. The homicide rate due to firearm injuries cannot be higher than the total homicide rate.

    Criminals use firearms in about 2/3 of all homicides which means the homicide rate due to injuries with a firearm is less than 3 per 100,000. Thus the scale on the map is totally wrong.

    - TruthBeTold

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    Replies
    1. It's a "gun death" stat, so they add suicide by gun.

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