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To me, the statistic that 316,545 people have been shot to death in the US in the last decade is staggering. I'm sure that includes things like police shootings

To me, the statistic that 316,545 people have been shot to death in the US in the last decade is staggering. I'm sure that includes things like police shootings as well, but that's still an enormous number. In the UK, the figure for the same period appears to be about 3600 (going by a few parliament reports over that decade - haven't added them all up but it averages 300 a year or so and I'm being pessimistic). 64M in the UK, 320M in the US, 316,545/5 = 63,309. 63,309/3600 = 17.6. So - you're 17.6 times more likely to be shot in the US than in the UK, where firearms are banned for most purposes, and gun deaths actually seem to have risen proportionally over the last few years - perhaps as police are more frequently armed in supposed response to the supposed ongoing terror threat, criminals more frequently feel the need to be armed in response... I haven't considered things like knife crime etc., but the US approach to gun ownership is anachronistic at the very best, and is out of step with what is viewed as civilised elsewhere in the world. I suppose there's a sort of duality of mind in the US, where people wish it were still frontier times, a brave young nation, the wild west, where you need to personally defend your self and property, but also want to live in a modern civilised society where the function of gun ownership and law enforcement is carried out by, well, law enforcement, and can't quite resolve their dichotomy. Would US law enforcement be as hostile and trigger happy as it is if they weren't so worried about getting shot, as seems to be their principle justification for "shoot first" tactics? Sorry, this has ended up a bit of a ramble, but I can't understand how it can be viewed as sane to allow gun ownership as it stands to go on. It's a pandemic.

anExcitedBeast 11y ago
For the sake of dealing with better numbers, about a third of that figure is suicide. And very, very, very few gun deaths are by rifle. Last year ~9k people were shot in the US - ~8450 by handgun, ~300 by shotgun, and many of those killed by rifles were shot by police. I know this doesn't change the calculus for most people. Just trying to get more realistic figures into the conversation.
- madaxe_again 11y ago
  The suicide rate in the US is twice that of the UK - take from that what you will, but brits are as a whole a pretty depressed bunch, and I dare say gun availability is a factor in suicide prevalence - the professions with the highest rates of suicide tend to be those that easily provide the tools to definitely painlessly kill yourself - doctors, dentists, veterinarians, farmers. I'm hypothesising, but I honestly think reducing availability of firearms would cause more people to not be able to kill themselves with facility, and therefore more likely to have the time to reconsider or seek help.
  - njpatel 11y ago
    "brits are as a whole a pretty depressed bunch" - have you been watching TV again?
  - AlgorithmicTime 11y ago
    Why should we want that? If someone wants to kill themselves, it's not my place or your place to make it more difficult for them to do so.
  - pigpaws 11y ago
    Thankfully, it isn't someone else's choice when, how or where a person makes the decision. People will find a way. I was in EMS for 15 years. There are worse ways to go... Bleach for example... really, any other way is worse if you think about it. everything else drags out the pain and suffering. ...but guns are louwd and scawy..
AlgorithmicTime 11y ago
2/3 of the people killed by guns were suicides. So, in fact, the risk is about 1/3 of what you suggest. And most of those deaths are gang violence related, so if you're not involved in gangs, the risk is minimal.
bobosha 11y ago
Just across the 49th parallel gun deaths are 1/6-1/10th of what they are in the US. The gun rights people are quick to blame "mental illness", surely there aren't 6x more mentally ill people in the US than Canada! But there sure are many many times more guns, sadly :-<

anExcitedBeast 11y ago

For the sake of dealing with better numbers, about a third of that figure is suicide. And very, very, very few gun deaths are by rifle. Last year ~9k people were shot in the US - ~8450 by handgun, ~300 by shotgun, and many of those killed by rifles were shot by police. I know this doesn't change the calculus for most people. Just trying to get more realistic figures into the conversation.

madaxe_again 11y ago
The suicide rate in the US is twice that of the UK - take from that what you will, but brits are as a whole a pretty depressed bunch, and I dare say gun availability is a factor in suicide prevalence - the professions with the highest rates of suicide tend to be those that easily provide the tools to definitely painlessly kill yourself - doctors, dentists, veterinarians, farmers. I'm hypothesising, but I honestly think reducing availability of firearms would cause more people to not be able to kill themselves with facility, and therefore more likely to have the time to reconsider or seek help.
- njpatel 11y ago
  "brits are as a whole a pretty depressed bunch" - have you been watching TV again?
- AlgorithmicTime 11y ago
  Why should we want that? If someone wants to kill themselves, it's not my place or your place to make it more difficult for them to do so.
- pigpaws 11y ago
  Thankfully, it isn't someone else's choice when, how or where a person makes the decision. People will find a way. I was in EMS for 15 years. There are worse ways to go... Bleach for example... really, any other way is worse if you think about it. everything else drags out the pain and suffering. ...but guns are louwd and scawy..

AlgorithmicTime 11y ago

2/3 of the people killed by guns were suicides. So, in fact, the risk is about 1/3 of what you suggest. And most of those deaths are gang violence related, so if you're not involved in gangs, the risk is minimal.

bobosha 11y ago

Just across the 49th parallel gun deaths are 1/6-1/10th of what they are in the US. The gun rights people are quick to blame "mental illness", surely there aren't 6x more mentally ill people in the US than Canada! But there sure are many many times more guns, sadly :-<