12-05-2016, 12:21 AM
(12-04-2016, 11:52 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: (1) criminals using firearms
(2) incompetent and reckless use of firearms
(3) people who don't have a ready firearm as a tool of committing suicide
(4) people who misjudge the efficacy of firearms in preventing arrest by resisting the police with firearms
(5) people that the cops deem wrongly to be acting aggressively with firearms
...and loved ones of such people.
Of course this reflects a society awash in privately-held firearms. We have a firearm-friendly culture, and that has its consequences. We are not Japan and cannot become Japan.
Interesting that you mention both suicide and Japan. Were you aware that the suicide rate in Japan, about 20 per 100,000, was higher than the total of the U.S. homicide rate, about 4 per 100,000, the U.S. suicide rate, about 13 per 100,000, and the U.S. accidental gun death rate, about 0.2 per 100,000, combined? And the numbers on the U.S. side would be even lower if we restricted ourselves to looking only at gun deaths.
The actual evidence is that guns do not increase the murder rate or suicide rate, and the increases to accidental deaths or justifiable homicides are inconsequentially low, and arguably beneficial in the case of justifiable homicides. When people really want to kill someone, themselves or others, they find a way with whatever tools or weapons are available.
On the other hand, the evidence is that privately owned firearms prevent about 2.5 million violent crimes per year, about 800 per 100,000, a substantial societal benefit.