A slogan from the gun-rights world: “Guns don’t kill, people do”, though more accurately it should be “Guns don’t kill, shooters do”. This slogan points out that, though a gun may be used to kill somebody, it requires a shooter to pull the trigger. Of course a shooter is only a shooter if the shooter has a gun (no gun, no shooter) and guns can kill by accident (no shooter, yet gun kills). Another slogan from the gun-rights world: “Guns save lives”. Guns have no feelings and know nothing of saving lives, so perhaps “Guns don’t save lives, people do” though the people involved are not necessarily shooters. What lives are saved? Nationally, in 2009, more twice the number of people died from suicide (36,909) than died from homicide (16,799) and “Suicide was the only leading cause of death showing a significant increase” from the previous year. More suicides involved a gun (18,735) than homicides with a gun (11,493).
In a gun-rights world, you should feel safer in Wyoming (a state with the highest level of gun ownership in 2001) than in other states with lower densities of guns, because “guns save lives” and “guns don’t kill”. The national age-adjusted average suicide rate is 11.8 (per 100,000) and the Wyoming suicide rate is 21.0 – nearly twice as high (only many-gunned Montana has a higher suicide rate). The number of homicides in Wyoming is very small, but the rate of injury by firearms is 18.1 (the highest in the country). People in Wyoming are worried, as are people in Montana.
Comparing figures from a survey in 2001 about gun ownership with more recent 2009 figures about causes of death cannot be precise, but there is no newer data about gun ownership because of pressure not to finance such data collection. Here is an imprecise but revealing comparison between suicide rates in 2009 and gun ownership in 2001:
| Suicide rates and gun ownership rates for the 50 states and the District1 | ||||
Less guns
|
Medium guns
|
More guns
| ||
Higher suicides
|
3
|
4
|
10
| |
Medium suicides
|
3
|
8
|
6
| |
Lower suicides
|
11
|
5
|
1
| |
I ranked the states on suicide and guns, and divided the states into three groups of 17 for each ranking (bottom-, middle-, and top-ranked). These groupings gave the above cross-tabulation. On average: more guns, higher suicide rates; less guns, lower suicide rates.
If we add accidental injuries into the mix, then it is clear that guns waste lives.
If we add accidental injuries into the mix, then it is clear that guns waste lives.
[1]
Based on data on suicide for the 50 states and the District of Columbia provided in Table 19 of National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 60, No. 3, December 29, 2011, and a survey of gun ownership in 2001 for the 50 states and DC which, of course, ten years earlier – because gun groups fight/lobby successfully against any national legislation to track guns and shooters, there seems little more recent data about national gun ownership by state.
Based on data on suicide for the 50 states and the District of Columbia provided in Table 19 of National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 60, No. 3, December 29, 2011, and a survey of gun ownership in 2001 for the 50 states and DC which, of course, ten years earlier – because gun groups fight/lobby successfully against any national legislation to track guns and shooters, there seems little more recent data about national gun ownership by state.
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