"10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down" Any rebuttal, or differing information?

[Common Sense Party]

I just saw this was posted in the antigun forum, where no one can bring up a different viewpoint. Does anyone care to tackle any of these?

Myth #2: Guns don't kill people—people kill people.
Fact-check: People with more guns tend to kill more people—with guns. The states with the highest gun ownership rates have a gun murder rate 114% higher than those with the lowest gun ownership rates. Also, gun death rates tend to be higher in states with higher rates of gun ownership. Gun death rates are generally lower in states with restrictions such as assault-weapons bans or safe-storage requirements. Update: A recent study looking at 30 years of homicide data in all 50 states found that for every one percent increase in a state's gun ownership rate, there is a nearly one percent increase in its firearm homicide rate.

...

Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.
Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
• 43% of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.

Etc. Etc.

On edit; Forgot the link: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check

[yellowcanine]

1. I have a bit of a problem with how the "For every time...." is worded.

Wording it this way just plays into the NRA misinformation campaign, because they will just say that most of the times guns are used in self-defense it goes unreported (no way of knowing whether that is true or not of course). Why not just present the negative data about guns in homes and not get sucked into making comparisons which really cannot be verified? It is then up to the NRA to prove their claim about how many times guns in homes are beneficial - either by number of cases of actual self defense, criminals scared off, etc.

[gejohnston]

2. That's easy

Studies done by different criminologists, often funded by DoJ, estimate 100K-2M criminals scared off etc. CDC and FBI use the more conservative number. As for MJ's "more likely than" comes from a discredited (as in destroyed in peer review. Criminologist James Wright described it as scientific as NRA propaganda) study by an ER doctor/gun control activist Auther Kellerman. His first claim was 43 more times, then to 27. Since he did not release how he got the adjusted numbers, it was ignored.

The first "myth" is easily debunked by using the sort function. Anytime you see uncited "studies show" it is more BS than fact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States_by_state

[Common Sense Party]

3. So, the Myth #5, gun at home makes you safer...I guess the banners would say that

a gun at home makes you less safe.

The same way Twinkies at home make you fatter...?

Sure, having the Twinkies in my home means I can eat them if I want. And a Twinkie might accidentally go off and land in my mouth, I suppose. But the Twinkie's existence, by itself, doesn't make me fat, does it?

I guess I hate the weasel words of "Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide...etc..."

Linked in what way? Is it causation? If you own a gun, it will make you homicidal/suicidal, etc. Or is it some remote correlation, in which there may me several other factors at play, but the one the banners wanted to latch on to was the gun ownership. Is there also crime going on in that household? Might that not have a huge "link to higher risks of homicide, suicide, etc."?

[ileus]

4. funny they don't consider Fed and Cops gun owners...

give up your rights if you desire...I'll keep mine.