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No, gunshot wounds result in more than 30,000 deaths per year. Traffic fatalities are also more than 30,000 per year. That's from from ALL causes, alcohol-related and not. Currently, ALL traffic fatalities slightly exceed gunshot fatalities, but the number of traffic fatalities is declining and the number of gunshot fatalities is increasing. Gunshots are expected to take the lead at some point in the next year or two.
This is misleading. The majority of gunshot deaths are suicides. The thread is about use of firearms for self defense. And gun homicides are decreasing.
"Suicides by gun accounted for about six of every 10 firearm deaths in 2010 and just over half of all suicides, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since the CDC began publishing data in 1981, gun suicides have outnumbered gun homicides. But as gun homicides have declined sharply in recent years, suicides have become a greater share of all firearm deaths: the 61% share in 2010 was the highest on record. That year there were 19,392 suicides by firearm compared to 11,078 homicides by gun (35% of all firearm deaths). The rest were accidents, police shootings and unknown causes."
Ideally, we would do a better job of treating depression in order to prevent suicide, and someone who is depressed should not have access to a gun. That is only common sense. But people without access to guns will still kill themselves.
My plan is to follow the Constitution which provides an individual right to possess weapons appropriate to such traditionally legal purposes as personal defense within one's own home. Beyond that, governments are free to limit, control, and regulate trade in weapons as they see fit.
wrong. Heller vs DC considered whether one thing was constitutional or not and decided it was not. It did not declare that the Bill of Rights only prohibited infringement of the right to keep and bear arms inside one's home.
" We consider whether a District of Columbia prohibition
on the possession of usable handguns in the home violates
the Second Amendment to the Constitution. "
" In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun
possession in the home violates the Second Amendment,
as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful fire-
arm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate
self-defense."
Your logic is strange indeed. You say one is safer against thugs without a gun than with one. No, a gun is not a 100% guarantee but it is a fighting chance.
What "fighting chance" would have been given to the 1-year old struck by a stray bullet from two blocks away? Go on...spell it out for us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmellc
People can and do use guns to resist criminals every day.
No, they don't. It's quite uncommon. Criminals do not like drama. They like speed and efficiency. They prefer to avoid people entirely, and failing that, to get the drop on them and be gone before the victim knows what happened. Successful defensive uses of a gun are an overblown NRA mythology.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmellc
Sadly, the stories rarely go beyond local papers, as the media generally will not report them any further.
LOL! Gun nuts and gun groups plaster every single even weak example they can find all over the internet and on the front pages and airwaves of every single city, town, and hamlet outlet they can find.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmellc
If I am in the yard and get approached by strangers, my hand is in my gun pocket just in case they are thugs. No, they are in no danger unless they try something.
Is your gun loaded? Is the safety off? If so, everyone in the vicinity is at risk. If not, your stupid gun is not going to be of much use in the event that one day one of these passers-by actually does "try something".
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmellc
You obviously prefer people to be sitting ducks and go along with thugs. That only encourages the thugs to keep on with their dastardly activities. And you call others nut cases?
I prefer that people remain as alive and unharmed as possible. Even the stupid ones. Guns don't contribute to that. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
I prefer that people remain as alive and unharmed as possible. Even the stupid ones. Guns don't contribute to that. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Having a concealed carry, I learned that if someone has a gun trained on you already you just need to calmingly comply. There's no way you'll draw and be able to take them out before they can pull the trigger. Additionally, if he has a knife on me but there are others in the line behind him I wouldn't take a shot. Training is key to making someone effective at protecting their life and the lives of others.
More people need to accept such facts rather than running around making reckless endangerments of themselves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alexanderaf
Having said that, if he pulls a knife on me and threatens my life, and there's no bystanders in the line of fire then he's not going to have a good time...
The ultimate point is to prevent anyone from not having a good time. It's important to remember that a carry permit does not make one judge, jury, and executioner. Your obligation remains to avoid use of your weapon until you are forced to as an absolute last resort. Otherwise, you will be prosecuted.
Criminals do not like drama. They like speed and efficiency. They prefer to avoid people entirely, and failing that, to get the drop on them and be gone before the victim knows what happened. Successful defensive uses of a gun are an overblown NRA mythology.
you mean, except in the article linked to in the OP of this thread, right?
No state has banned the AR-15 for hunting anything. It wouldn't make any sense to do that. Hunting regulations typically limit the types of cartridges that can be used for hunting larger game such as deer. In some states, it would be illegal to hunt deer with a .223 Rem cartridge or weaker.
If you can't use the ammo, you can't use the weapon that fires it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lanks
I have even seen AR-15s that fire golf balls.
That's part of why people get called "gun nuts".
Quote:
Originally Posted by lanks
I think there are a lot of people who like AR-15s for the same reason hot-rodders like small block chevy engines: they are easy to modify and there are tons of parts available for them. They're really a lot of fun for those who like to tinker.
IED's are a good platform for tinkerers. We don't allow those either.
Your obligation remains to avoid use of your weapon until you are forced to as an absolute last resort.
but only in your home, right? if you're outside of your home and put into a situation where you would normally be forced to use your weapon as an absolute last resort you're just out of luck because you shouldn't be allowed to have that weapon outside of your home, right?
do you ever actually leave your house and see the outside world or are you one of those cat people with no job who sits on the internet all day preaching that only you understand how criminals think and only you magically know how often 330 million americans use firearms to defend themselves when there is no actual method to record that statistic and only you know how everyone else should live from your neighborhood that has had only one crime in the last six years.
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