Thanks saudipc, I was quoting from tables that have obviously been massaged. Yours look more reliable.
However they still show that the accepted 30,000 gun deaths in the US is not correct, in that you have to look at what those numbers mean. In the CDC figures they claim nearly 11,000 homicides, a far cry from the 30,000. Of course that is still tragic, as is the accident numbers, and I hope I never feel the pain of losing a family member to firearm violence, nor you.
Of the 11,000, you can see from the breakdown that most are committed by a certain group of the population, and this is probably due to drug dealing and gang activity. Solve that problem and the gun violence loses its ability to lead the headlines.
I tried to show that gun haters do not always tell the truth and so I put an error in my own post (about the police shootings) so I am just as bad. I should be whapped alongside my head.
But the conclusion is still valid: Of the gun deaths in the US every year, only about one third are homicides, and according to the FBI only one third of those are murders. The rest are criminals killing other criminals, self defence and so on. For a country of 270 million, around 3000-4000 murders using guns each year is a far cry from the 30,000 you are so often told about, and the rate is not far off those of other industrialised countries. If you are not involved in drugs or gangs, and you take normal precautions for your own safety, you are just as safe in the US, even in the big cities, as you are at home.
So when you vist the US, or fly in a US airplane when the pilot might have a gun, do not despair.
Last edited by boofhead; 17th Nov 2002 at 03:24.