Guns. Do they make us safer? The numbers. The facts.

[jimmy the one]

41. gun fly in the ointment

DonP: President Obama issued a list of Executive Orders. Notably among them, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was given $10 million to research gun violence.

.. a committee tasked by the federal govt with creating a potential research agenda focusing on ways to minimize gun violence. The committee, formed by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in response to an executive order President Obama signed

DonP: Here are some key findings from the 2013 CDC report, “Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence,” released in June 2013:

Before we proceed, here are some key findings by me: Controversial Pro-Gun Researcher {Gary Kleck} Helped Write Federal Research Plan On Minimizing Gun Violence .. A spokesperson for the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council would not comment on Kleck's controversial presence on the committee.. http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/06/28/controversial-pro-gun-researcher-helped-write-f/194660

Gary Kleck is a rightwing pro gun democrat, perhaps best known for his scientifically flawed defensive gun use (DGU) study which found something like 2.4 million dgu's per year (to wit, 2 gun murders in entire study, ~dozen defensive woundings).

also recommended: researchers proposed gun safety technologies such as “external locking devices and biometric systems” {smart guns} to reduce firearm-related deaths

DonP: 1. Armed citizens are less likely to be injured by an attacker:

Only to a slight affect, perhaps 10% less likely to be injured due the sudden presence of a gun causeing attacker to flee. But when there is injury during resistance, the defender armed with a gun is more likely to be more seriously injured, than a complacent or non gun owning defender.

donP: 7. The vast majority of gun-related deaths are not homicides, but suicides (61% over 10 years).

61% of firearm deaths is not a 'vast majority'. A solid majority yes. You exaggerated for affect, the vast majority would normally mean something in excess of 75%. The phrase "vast majority" is most often used to exaggerate the size, relevance, or importance of some statistic.

DonP wrote: 2. Defensive uses of guns are common

What donP left out: Even when defensive use of guns is effective in averting death or injury for the gun user in cases of crime, it is still possible that keeping a gun in the home or carrying a gun in public—concealed or open carry— may have a different net effect on the rate of injury.. if gun ownership raises the risk of suicide, homicide, or the use of weapons by those who invade the homes of gun owners this could cancel or outweigh the beneficial effects of defensive gun use

and also left out: On the other hand, some scholars point to radically lower estimate of only 108,000 annual defensive uses based on the National Crime Victimization Survey (Cook et al., 1997)

Some more items of interest: A recent estimate suggested that firearm violence cost the US more than $174 billion in 2010 (Miller, 2010). However, it is essentially impossible to quantify the overall physiological, mental, emotional, social, and collateral economic effects of firearm violence, since these effects extend well beyond the victim to the surrounding community and society at large.

Despite gun owners’ increased perception of safety, research by Kellermann et al. (1992, 1993, 1995) describes higher rates of suicide, homicide, and the use of weapons involved in home invasion in the homes of gun owners. However, other studies conclude that gun ownership protects against serious injury when guns are used defensively..

two studies found “a small but significant fraction of gun suicides are committed within days to weeks after the purchase of a handgun, and both also indicate that gun purchasers have an elevated risk of suicide for many years after the purchase of the gun” (NRC, 2005,