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SecularMotion

(7,981 posts)
Wed Jul 9, 2014, 05:52 AM Jul 2014

10 states where guns are most (and least) likely to kill people

In what states are guns most likely, and least likely, to kill people? Every day in America, nearly 90 people are killed by guns, a total of roughly 32,000 annually, according to federal gun violence statistics.

But blue states are far safer than red states, according new analyses of the most recent data. That’s because states with the most gun controls, which are almost all blue, tend to have fewer gun owners and fewer guns used in suicides, crime and domestic disputes.

Nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths are suicides. There, states with the highest gun ownership rates and loosest laws have the highest percentages of deaths this way. Otherwise, poverty is a major factor, correlating with gun violence.

“The five states with the highest per capita gun death rates in 2011 were Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, Wyoming, and Montana,” the Violence Policy Center (VPC) said in its latest analysis of federal statistics. “Each of these states has extremely lax gun violence prevention laws as well as a higher rate of gun ownership. The state with the lowest gun death rate in the nation was Rhode Island, followed by Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Each of these states has strong gun violence prevention laws and has a lower rate of gun ownership.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/07/04/10_states_where_guns_are_most_and_least_likely_to_kill_people_partner/
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10 states where guns are most (and least) likely to kill people (Original Post) SecularMotion Jul 2014 OP
Those silly guns always killing people. ileus Jul 2014 #1
Is anyone surprised at this? Walk away Jul 2014 #2
they are including suicides gejohnston Jul 2014 #4
Suicide reate are not independent of means. I personally know a woman who... Walk away Jul 2014 #7
One isolated example gejohnston Jul 2014 #9
Well, here's another. flamin lib Jul 2014 #14
My brother had a friend in High School gejohnston Jul 2014 #15
But Democrat gun owners are sa................. I forgot, no real democrat ownes a firearm. oneshooter Jul 2014 #6
Just fewer of them genius! That's the point...get it? Walk away Jul 2014 #8
So you agree that no true democrat ownes a firearm. n/t oneshooter Jul 2014 #10
Non-evolved Democrats sarisataka Jul 2014 #11
My guns are lazy as cats. But rumor has it that people... Eleanors38 Jul 2014 #3
And yet Rhode Island is pro-gun hack89 Jul 2014 #5
when cars kill people it will get real Duckhunter935 Jul 2014 #12
Shame that the article does nothing but quote the VPC. ManiacJoe Jul 2014 #13

ileus

(15,396 posts)
1. Those silly guns always killing people.
Wed Jul 9, 2014, 07:13 AM
Jul 2014

except when they're not...

One would think gun could be tamed up enough to be domesticated.

Walk away

(9,494 posts)
2. Is anyone surprised at this?
Wed Jul 9, 2014, 07:34 AM
Jul 2014

Anyone with a gun is dangerous. The republican base with guns are highly deadly.

gejohnston

(17,502 posts)
4. they are including suicides
Wed Jul 9, 2014, 08:27 AM
Jul 2014

which without guns, would simply be 20K rope deaths. Josh Sugarman at VPC might call that progress, but I don't. I do think he is a dishonest ideologue and zealot.
Suicide rates are independent of means. Rural areas have higher suicide rates than urban or suburban areas, that is true anywhere in the world.
That is why Wyoming has so many "gun deaths" even though the murder rate among the lowest and the use of guns is below the national average. Same with Vermont, where guns are not used in most of the murders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States_by_state

Walk away

(9,494 posts)
7. Suicide reate are not independent of means. I personally know a woman who...
Wed Jul 9, 2014, 02:27 PM
Jul 2014

tried to obtain a gun to commit suicide and when she couldn't get one decided that most other methods were either too painful or likely not to be effective.

If you want to play the game where gun suicides don't count as gun deaths you officially qualify as a gun nut! Congrats!

gejohnston

(17,502 posts)
9. One isolated example
Wed Jul 9, 2014, 02:42 PM
Jul 2014

doesn't make a well known fact any less true. Sounds like she was reaching out for help, like the guy that takes pills and calls 911.
Perfect example is Australia, where firearms suicides fell 58 percent about the same time their states adopted the National Firearms Agreement (if the state parliaments didn't pass it, they would have lost federal funding for their single payer health care. Kind of like who we adopted the "national" drinking age.) That is touted as some kind of success. Problem is, there was no connection between NFA and the changes in means of suicides, and the suicide rate didn't go down.
Gun violence does not count suicides, which is what Sugarman was deceptively saying. Why is someone killed with a machete but by a gun?
While I do include suicides in "gun deaths" but not "gun violence" which is what Sugarman and his ilk often do.

flamin lib

(14,559 posts)
14. Well, here's another.
Fri Jul 11, 2014, 11:06 AM
Jul 2014

My ex-SIL tried to commit suicide by drug OD. He was found unresponsive, treated in the ER and given counciling. He is now alive, well and happy with his new wife.

There are any number of studies ,including the one you are commenting on, that call bullshit on your post.

gejohnston

(17,502 posts)
15. My brother had a friend in High School
Fri Jul 11, 2014, 11:22 AM
Jul 2014

who could have chosen one of several gun in the house, but chose to drink battery acid.

Walk away

(9,494 posts)
8. Just fewer of them genius! That's the point...get it?
Wed Jul 9, 2014, 02:34 PM
Jul 2014

I agree, not all Dems are evolved enough to eschew guns but guns and gun deaths are, apparently, more prevalent among Red staters.

 

Eleanors38

(18,318 posts)
3. My guns are lazy as cats. But rumor has it that people...
Wed Jul 9, 2014, 07:46 AM
Jul 2014

kill people, sometimes without relying on a magic force field.

hack89

(39,171 posts)
5. And yet Rhode Island is pro-gun
Wed Jul 9, 2014, 08:49 AM
Jul 2014

with the most powerful Democratic politician in the state having an A rating from the NRA. AWBs are consistently reject. We do, however, have UBCs.

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