[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Once again this is non-comparative thinking:

It's only useful if by changing A, there is a causal change in B.
For a (hypothetical) example:
- suicide by gun does happen
- attempted suicide by gun does happen
- but, of the attempted suicides by gun, only 10% are later successful
Therefore, if you prevent an attempted suicide, there's a good chance you have prevented successful suicide BY FIREARM. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Here is my misquote:
"When one person dies it is a tragedy, when thousands die it's a statistic."

I urge everyone to look beyond gun "deaths"
Look at the numbers of injuries, and specifically "unintended" incidents
For example, the numbers of Emergency Room visits related to guns. Still very small. CDC reports on that.

Also, look at the use of guns as intimidators of women, and/or "domestic violence"
- threats of suicide
- threats to kill the wife/girl friend
- threats to kill the children


California found 66% of the battered women in shelters had been intimidated with a gun. A useless statistic. 66% of how many women? 100? 1000? I know that even one is too many, but abusers will use any tool at their disposal. Lack of having a weapon won't change an underlying mindset. The other thing missing from that statistic is did it happen once in their life or seven times a day?

A national random survey found more hostile gun displays against women in the home
—primarily by intimate partners—
than self-defense gun uses in the home by women or anyone else. That's only because women don't listen.

Children do find guns...
If you ever have children in your home, are your guns already safe from them ? YES. The same is true for bleach, solvents, and so forth.
If your children visit other homes, do you FIRST ask if there are any guns in that home? I admit, I hadn't thought of that, but I have taught my kids what to do if they ever find a firearm.