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Gun Control Facts You'll Never Hear |
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By Stephen Lendman |
| Very Interesting facts about gun control - which are NEVER discussed by
media ... There are 30,000 gun related deaths per year by firearms. That is not disputed. What is never shown, though, is a breakdown of those deaths to put them in perspective, as compared to other causes of death. • 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 mostly justified • 17% are through criminal activity, gang and drug related or mentally ill persons • 3% are accidental discharge deaths So technically, "gun violence" is not 30,000 annually, but drops to 5,100 (0.17 x 30,000). Still too many? Well, first, how are those deaths spanned across the nation? • 480 homicides (9.4%) were in Chicago • 344 homicides (6.7%) were in Baltimore • 333 homicides (6.5%) were in Detroit • 119 homicides (2.3%) were in Washington DC (a 54% increase over prior years) So basically, 25% of all gun crime happens in just 4 cities. All 4 of those cities have strict gun laws, so it is not the lack of law that is the root cause. This basically leaves 3,825 for the entire rest of the nation or about 75 per state. That is an average because some states have much higher rates than others. For example, California had 1,169 and Alabama had 1. Now, who has the strictest gun laws by far? California, of course, but understand, it is not the tool (guns) driving this. It is a crime rate spawned by the number of criminal persons residing in those cities and states. So, if all cities and states are not created equal, then there must be something other than the tool causing the gun deaths. Are 5,100 deaths per year horrific? How about in comparison to other deaths? All death is sad and especially so when it is in the commission of a crime, but that is the nature of crime. Robbery, death, rape, assault; all are done by criminals to victims and thinking that criminals will obey laws is ludicrous. That's why they are criminals. But what of other deaths? • 40,000+ die from a drug overdose THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THAT! · 36,000 people die per year from the flu, far exceeding the criminal gun deaths • 34,000 people die per year in traffic fatalities (exceeding gun deaths, even if you include suicide) Now it gets good 200,000+ people die each year (and growing) from preventable medical malpractice. • You are safer in Chicago than you are in a hospital! • 710,000 people die per year from heart disease. Time to stop the cheeseburgers! So what is the point? If Obama and the anti-gun movement focused their attention on heart disease, even a 10% decrease would save twice the lives annually of all gun related deaths (including suicide, law enforcement, etc.). A 10% reduction in malpractice would be 66% of the total gun deaths or 4 times the number of criminal homicides. Simple, easily preventable 10% reductions! So you have to ask yourself, in the grand scheme of things, why the focus on guns? |
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