Read this. Bookmark this. Then read it again.

The truth is in the details, and BOY HOWDY does this guy get into the guts of the details of firearms and homocides!

Essentially, more guns do NOT cause more crime; even (especially?) Murders.

Suicides? ... well, guns are as effective as the Japanese method of putting your skull between a pile-driver and the pile it's driving, but much more convenient.

Everybody’s Lying About the Link Between Gun Ownership and Homicide:

Everybody’s Lying About the Link Between Gun Ownership and Homicide There is no clear correlation whatsoever between gun ownership rate and gun homicide rate. Not within the USA. Not regionally. Not internationally. Not among peaceful societies. Not among violent ones. Gun ownership doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t make us less safe. The correlation simply isn’t there. It is blatantly not-there. It is so tremendously not-there that the “not-there-ness” of it alone should be a huge news story.

(And yes, I have talked about this before. I'll talk about it again, next year.)

Guns in America: Attitudes and Experiences of Americans | Pew Research Center

Interesting .... and surprisingly unbiased .... study on firearms ownership.

Recommended reading.

Quite long, so you may wish to bookmark it and read it in multiple sessions.
That has been my plan so far.


Guns in America: Attitudes and Experiences of Americans | Pew Research Center:

The remainder of this report examines in greater detail the public’s experiences with guns as well as views on gun policies. Chapter 1 looks at the demographics of gun ownership and the reasons people own guns. It also explores early experiences with guns, such as growing up in a gun-owning household and participating in hunting or sport shooting. Chapter 2 focuses on the role guns have in the daily life of gun owners, including whether they carry a gun outside their home, how often they engage in gun-related activities or consume gun-oriented media, and their social ties to other gun owners. It also looks at negative experiences some people have had with guns. Chapter 3 examines the public’s views on the responsibilities of gun ownership, with an emphasis on the differences between what gun owners and non-owners consider essential safety measures for gun owners to follow. Chapter 4  explores what Americans see as contributing factors to gun violence. Chapter 5 focuses on the public’s views on policy proposals to restrict or expand access to guns.

An HONEST evaluation of statistics relevant to Firearm Deaths vs CAUSE

Okay, I'm asking you ... everybody ...
exactly HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED FROM FIREARMS IN 2015?

I'm guessing it depends on whose statistics you like.
(You know the Mantra: Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics!  Don't forget that.)

So, just as an EXERCISE, I'm going to survey the top THREE statistical results from Google, and report them here.

I'll let YOU decide who you believe.  Okay?
First question: how do we qualify the statics?

• Deaths by Firearms
• Homicide by Firearms
• Death from Gun Violence

Okay, before I even LOOK at statistics, I'm going to give you MY definition of the three terms (and I warn you ... I don't expect that these three terms are going to cover the gamut of statistics; and I don't expect any of the statisticians to agree with my terminology. But I think that MY definitions are probably going to be very close to YOUR definitions.

Here are MY (entirely amateur, not affiliated with anyone who claims to know what he's talking about) definitions:

DEATH  BY FIREARM:

"ANY DEATH where a Firearm is determined to be the ultimate instrument of termination-of-life will be defined as Death By Firearm; death at the hand of a Law Enforcement Officer; Death at the hands of Serving Military within or without the Continental United States are included.  Also included; suicide, accidental death, including those deaths of 'innocent bystanders' in a situation which, lacking intent to murder, would be considered a Homicide .. as specifically included here.  It may seen redundant, but to be clear: the categories "HOMOCIDE BY FIREARMS" and "DEATH FROM GUN VIOLENCE" are specifically included here.

Homicide by Firearms:

"ANY DEATH where a Firearm is determined to be the ultimate instrument of termination of life, and which cannot be defined as "accidental" or "suicide" or "justifiable" (including "killed by a Law Enforcement Office", but rather is defined as "death by firearm at the intentional hand of another person", is defined as a HOMICIDE by FIREARM.

The intention to kill another person is specifically included here.
Death from Gun Violence is specifically NOT included here, unless the determination to kill is a primary OR SECONDARY motivation to shoot a living person during a "Shooting Incident".
.  Note that "homocide" defines intent.  Note also that 'accidental shootings" may fall under this vaguely defined category, if there is no clear determination of intent, but the circumstances have not been adjudicated as "other than intentional".  Thus, the numbers in this category may change hourly as new decisions are made and new judges are seated..

Death from Gun Violence:

A death where a firearm is determined to be the primary instrument of termination of life will be defined as "Death From Gun Violence", as long as the following limitations are observed:

• The person wielding the firearm MAY BE the person who dies:  which is to say, suicides are specifically included in this count.
• For the specific purpose of this survey, death by a Law Enforcement Officer and death by a private citizen who fires to terminate a murder or violent crime (which itself involves a gun, and therefore is Ipso Facto a potential "death by gun violence" situation) are two specific instances where "death by gun" are not included.

Okay, here are the results!: