Sally Friedman 7th April 2006 |
It's no surprise that states with the strictest gun control laws have a lower firearm death rate. My question is, what are the trends bewteen gun control and firearm death rates over a period of 5 or 10 years. If we can establish the fact that gun control laws make our neighborhoods safer, then maybe we will get a more common sense approach to the issue. America needs a dialog on gun control with recent and accurate statistics. This is an excellent start. |
Jeff 24th April 2006 |
Sally: Did you notice that DC leads the list, even though it has far and away the strictest gun control laws in the nation? New Hampshire, way down on the bottom of the list, has essentially no gun control whatsoever.
What I was wondering was, do these numbers include suicides? Apparently, they do, but unfortunately, there are not yet any other stats on this side dealing with suicides. |
Staff Editor 24th April 2006 |
Staff response to Jeff, comment posted on 2006-04-23 20:36:41
In respose to Jeff: Yes, this stat does include suicides. You can find statistics on the suicide rates in the US here: http://www.statemaster.com/graph-T/hea_sui_percap
You can also find statistics on suicides in state prisons in the Crime category. |
Bobby (Rockville, MD) 10th May 2006 |
Again, Sally, DC has the strictest gun control laws, yet is highest in gun deaths. I personally think allowing people to carry concealed weapons will greatly decrease violent crime against the common citizen. Criminals are stupid, but they're not stupid enough to rob somebody who would likely have a 44 Magnum in their pocket. It worked in the 20s, why can't it work now? |
Dwaine 10th May 2006 |
What age category does this cover. Does this include criminals killed by police, DEA, etc. during raids and arressts? |
Staff Editor 11th May 2006 |
Staff response to Dwaine, comment posted on 2006-05-10 17:43:28
In response to Dwaine: All age groups are included, and our researchers assume criminal deaths are included in this data as the CDC includes among mortality records 'all deaths occurring in the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Deaths to foreign residents are excluded. Deaths to residents who died abroad are not included on this file.' The Kaiser Foundation's StateHealthFacts is another source for this information, they note that this data includes 'Legal intervention involving firearm discharge.' |
Francis (Essex Jct. Vermont) 11th December 2006 |
I think every head of house hold that has no serious record should own a gun, everyone thinks that the more strict it is the safer and thats not the case cus what do u do when someone barges in and decides to wanna shoot ya and u dont have anything to fight back with? my point exactly! |
Ray (OHIO) 23rd March 2007 |
Crime info would be more relevant by City than by state. New York City, Chicago and Cleveland would look very different from NY state, Illinois, or OH. It would put DC in a better perspective. |
. 19th April 2007 |
DC has the strictest gun control laws because they have the biggest gun problem -- note that DC is essentially just a poor urban city in a unique juristiction established by Congress, which makes it rather qualitatively different from any of the 50 actual states. |
Chris Mata (Texas) 29th August 2007 |
It seems quite erroneous to include suicides in this stat since the data is supposed to be about crime and suicide is not a crime. |
Evan (Iraq) 20th December 2007 |
Hopefully the Supreme Court is not blind enough to look past these statistics when making their ruling in the "District of Columbia vs. Heller" case. It's obvious that the handgun ban enacted by the District of Columbia was counter productive in meeting the desired effects. |
Ken (Oklahoma) 10th July 2008 |
I live in Oklahoma. I have had a concealed carry permit for 15 years. I have yet to use my weapon. Contrary to what the educated morons say the proliferation of weapons is not the reason for higher rates of death by firearms. It is estimated that the presence of a firearm prevents approx. 1,000,000 crimes a year. |