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Is “Gun Violence” Really an “Epidemic?”
The argument for an “epidemic” of gun violence in the US seems to fall apart somewhat when you crunch the numbers. Here are some numbers, partly taken from a Twitter thread I fact-checked and adjusted using the data from the CDC and US census.
There were 33,736 gun-related deaths per year by firearms according to CDC numbers. The US population is 326,766,748. Do the math: .01% of the population dies each year from gun-related actions each year. Not 1%, not 1/10th of a percent — 1/100th of 1 percent. Now, let’s break down the numbers that make up the 33,736.
• 65% of those deaths are by suicide which would never be prevented by gun laws.
• 15% are by law enforcement in the line of duty and justified.
• 17% are through criminal activity, gang and drug-related or mentally ill persons– gun violence.
• 3% are accidental discharge deaths.
So, technically, “gun violence” is not 30,000 annually, but drops to 5,735. Ok, let’s see where these incidents occurred:
• 650 homicides (11.3%) were in Chicago.
• 344 homicides (6%) were in Baltimore.
• 333 homicides (5.8%) were in Detroit.
• 119 homicides (2.1%) were in Washington DC.
So basically, 25% of all gun crime happens in just four cities. All of those cities have strict gun laws, so it is not the lack of law that is the root cause. This basically leaves 4,289 for the entire rest of the nation, or about 85 deaths per state.
Obviously, those 5,735 gun deaths are a terrible tragedy for the families that are affected, but let’s look at other leading causes of death in the US:
• 51,966 died from poisoning.
• 37,461 from motor vehicle traffic deaths.
• 50,000+ die from drug overdose.
• 31,959 unintentional fall deaths.
• 200,000+ people die each year from preventable medical errors. A 10% reduction in medical errors would result in saving almost four times the total number of gun deaths per year!
All these numbers demonstrate to me that, while gun violence shouldn’t be ignored, it is not the alarming epidemic anti-gun activists try to portray it as.
Published in Culture
Check the numbers again. 33,736 shows up twice–gun deaths and traffic deaths. Probably should also provide a link.
Holy catfish. That is very interesting.
Once you get a perspective like this, it reminds you of how big this country is, how much is going on in it on every given day. Also how infinitesimally small is the amount covered by the “news”. And how much they can make whatever tiny amount they are covering that day look like it’s going on everywhere – and that something must be done!!
Not to mention how much of that tiny amount they cover they get all wrong anyway!
Maybe we’re all okay, the world’s okay; we’re just being driven crazy, legit crazy, by a constant drumbeat of balderdash day in and day out.
About 350 kids die on prom night, another 500 or so die on graduation night.All traffic accidents, most DUI. Must be the prom dresses ,tuxedos and diplomas at fault.
I’m not afraid of heights (interestingly enough), but I have an inordinate number of nightmares involving my children plummeting into gaping chasms with no bottom.
It’s enough to make me never want to go on a bridge with them… EVER.
Thanks for the statistical breakdown.
I scaffolded up the outside of a building I was working on once up to about 110′ high. Took about a year. Because we were going up in 12′ increments, and spending a couple or three weeks at each level, we got used to it, and it didn’t bother us. I couldn’t get on a 110′ high scaffold now if my life depended on it.
An “epidemic” also implies something out of the ordinary. So, calling gun violence deaths an “epidemic” would also seem to call for comparisons with years past. As I understand it, total deaths from firearms are on a downward trajectory.
Good post, Concretevol.
There are obviously a number of innocent people among those 5,735. But I would venture that a fair amount of that number are criminals themselves. And when people trot out the number of “children” shot, they are often counting anyone under 21 as a child. So you can have a 19-year-old drug dealer shoot down a 20-year-old drug dealer from a rival gang and someone is going to categorize it the same as when an 8-year-old is killed.
And it is illegal for them to buy alcohol. Schools accept and warn about driving drunk especially around prom time, because the reality is it happens irregardless of the law.
Check this: https://wisqars.cdc.gov:8443/nvdrs/nvdrsDisplay.jsp
When you ask it to tell you the violent gun deaths in total, for 2015, you get ~15,000. When you ask it to show you violent gun deaths excluding those killed by law enforcement, it goes to ~3,000
Indeed. This should be pointed out to Master Hogg from Parkland.
Which of those four cities that are responsible for 25% of gun violence deaths are run by Democrats?
We shouldn’t issue diplomas unless students fill out the proper paperwork; ideally test papers that are commensurate with the twelfth grade.
It is not about gun violence, it is about taking away guns from the uppity citizens.
When confronted with a valid statistical analysis that disproves their assertion, the left always falls back on the “But if you can prevent one death” argument . . .
And if they’re going to focus on “one death,” I return with a series of “one death” scenarios in which a gun saves a life.
That doesn’t sound right. Is that in the US alone? The rest of your post presents a very persuasive argument, but I sure would like to see a source for this stat.
Then ask them why they are so adamantly opposed to arming teachers and staff….
Aargh! Dick’s Sporting Goods just made that totally stupid argument in their media statement in which they sanctimoniously announced that they are putting limits on what they sell (they’re apparently feeling guilty because they sold a rifle to the perpetrator of the Parkland shooting, though apparently not the rifle used in the attack), and demand that Congress impose most of the same limitations on their competitors, even though there’s no evidence any of them would have any real effect, and completely ignoring the people who would be harmed by such limitations.
I usually bring up other inanimate objects used by people to intentionally kill other people: cars, trucks, hammers, baseball bats, golf clubs, fists, hands, feet, lead pipe, screwdrivers . . . the list is endless.
I could add social media, given the small but noticable number of people who commit suicide after being hounded on these media.
“If proms are outlawed, only outlaws will have proms.” Don’t you know . . .
He would ingore it. We would do well to ignore this kid. He’s today’s Sandra Fluke . . .
Shoot you’re right that’s not just in the U.S. I’ll take that down. My bad. The rest are correct, I tried to ensure stats were from 2016 or 2017.
Virtue signaling . . .
Because their competitors will take up the slack and cut into Dick’s profits . . .
Common for large business to collaborate with large government to impose regulations that hobble competitors, particularly small competitors.
My guess is that Dick’s wasn’t selling a lot of that stuff anyway, so it may represent a tiny fraction of their sales. But, that stuff might be a large portion of the sales of an independent firearms retailer.
Yeah I don’t think they have carried AR’s in years (if at all) so I don’t care about that but their ignorant call for “common sense gun control” smacks of pandering to leftists at best, at worst it’s progressive activism designed to trade liberty for “security”…..aka turning us from citizens to subjects.
If that’s true, then all the more reason to call it virtue signaling. They could have quietly discontinued carrying products that don’t sell well in their stores.
I’m pretty sure they haven’t carried AR’s in years. Now they will be able to close down their hunting and fishing sections entirely (the stuff people like me buy) and expand their hacky sack and yoga sections (more in line with SJW leftist’s interests)
I’ll give you 1 guess…..Add St Louis and DC to the mix and see what you get
My bad, should have been 37,461 traffic deaths. Got a little confused because the numbers are so close.
Perhaps the only useful thing about calling this non-epidemic an epidemic is that we are concerned with a ‘widespread infectious disease in communities’.
We need to study and understand the vectors of this disease before we can treat it.