Interesting statistic

[spd67]

I am currently taking a shooting reconstruction class and was presented with an interesting statistic in the class so I am passing it on to you guys....

"Currently, there are around 235 million firearms owned by civilians in the United States. According to Dr. Gary Kleck, there are over one million firearm-related crimes which occur in the United States every year. There are also 2.5 million firearm-related incidents known as Defensive Gun Uses (DGU) which occur annually. A DGU describes a situation in which a criminal act is thwarted by the intended victim producing a firearm to the assailant. A single shot is never even fired in 92% of DGUs.

The following statistics from the Centers for Disease Control break down the number of firearm-related deaths in the United States per year:
Suicides
18,000
Homicides:
14,000
Accidental Death:
1,100"

I found it very interesting...

 

[p238shooter]

Running some numbers her, but firearms are getting close to the number of people killed crossing the street or killed in aircraft accidents. I did hear that there was a small plane crash in N Dakota last month that killed 2 people. I wonder if any one was killed in any automobile accident in that month in the US, or falling down steps? A firearm death or an aircraft accident will make front page news, they are the only one that needs recognition, all the other thousands do not matter. Pulling out in front of a truck, train, falling asleep, being drunk whatever to kill you or making other bad decisions do not matter. Have an aircraft or firearm accident involved, post that world wide on the front page.

 

[Boehlertaught]

Check out the number of doctor malpractice deaths too.

 

[spd67]

I thought it was cool that 95% of 2.5 million defensive gun uses result with no round ever being fired. It would seem to suggest that just the presence of a gun would help mediate certain situations...

 

[berettaman]

Interesting figures to be sure,but I can't/wont take the word of the CDC.And I'm not familiar with DR Kleeck's work.
I'll reserve judgement untill I here it from John Lott.