Still think we don't have a gun problem?

reply to post by muse7

I have to admit, muse7, that I am an "on-the-fence" gun control advocate. Whereas I support the right of an American citizen to own a gun as provided under the Constitution, I don't understand why an average citizen has need for any type of semi-automatic weapon.

With that said, I try to remain objective when it comes to social hot buttons and I gather facts before determining where I stand on any issue. While doing some additional research, I found that, on the average, gun-related crime has actually decreased as is illustrated below by FactCheck.org:



I don't profess to be a statistician on guns, but the facts illustrated on violent gun-related incidents more or less speak for themselves on many different levels. Do I think it's right that nonfatal gun injuries have risen or that more people have been able to take their own lives through the use of guns? Absolutely not, but I also can't ignore the fact that murders, aggravated assaults and robberies have decreased, in spite of the gun manufacturing boom.since 2007.

Conversely, one of the things I find somewhat disturbing about this chart is that they illustrate most of their statistics from 2011, with the exception of gun ownership which is only illustrated as of 2007. What is to be gleaned from this? Are we to believe that their statistics are purposely skewed for some partisian purpose or scarier yet, is it possible that mantaining records on gun ownership has become so difficult that it would be impossible to illustrate how many people own guns as of 2011? I'm sure that even the most ardent gun advocate would agree that some agency should be aware of who own a gun, no?

OP try again by and remove all suicides and people killed by police/military/etc.

Gun grabbers have been getting quite desperate after having lost the gun debates so many times already.

A DAMN FOOLISH chart, and I believe that the OP knows it, but like all gun grabbers, they want to see what NONSENSE that they can SNEAK by us to fool the non-thinkers. Not gonna happen here OP. Folks here are too wise to fall for such complete nonsense.

FAIL.

OP, and like-minded folks -- please feel free to take the next one-way flight out of America if you are so AFRAID of an OBJECT that by itself is completely harmless. And an OBJECT which our Constitution gives us the RIGHT to have, by the way...

One-way plane ticket, farewell! America can do quite well without Traitors.

reply to post by muse7


Guns are for hunting and for protection against potential enemies. If we can agree that the deaths you are referring to are either accidental or are a result of the MIS-use of weaponry, then the same can be said of other things.

How about the deaths from the MIS-use of cars? Should we ban them?

FOX NEWS Car Crashes Kill 40,000 in U.S. Every Year

Like others have the said those stats are pretty misleading. Even if they weren't though, I don't think the problems is the guns it's the people. If somebody is going to harm themselves or others, they will find a way to do it. If a gun is not readily available, there are plenty of other instruments that could be used, getting rid of guns wouldn't affect the overall homicide or suicide rates much, but would greatly hinder the average law abiding citizen from protecting themselves and their family.