The public outcry for this legislation has very little to do with 305,493 people dying from gun related violence over 9 years.
Of these deaths, more than 50% are suicides. Between 2001-2010, 175,221 people took their own lives. This is not a major talking point in the discussion; a telling example that root causes are not being addressed.
Taking the suicide numbers out (given a weapon irrelevant to current policy reform, and that the act will be accomplished under any circumstance) the remaining number of deaths is 130,272.
People who commit crimes are implicitly law breakers. What, if any, new laws will stop such people? The graph implies we need more laws, which will clearly only pertain to people who follow them. Murder by firearm accounts for 119,246 deaths during the relevant timespan of 9 years.
Considering these two categories of death, from 2001 - 2010 there were an additional 11,026 deaths, or 1,225/yr. Of these, 6,739 were accidental, and 2,415 were of an undetermined cause.
Citing other preventable causes of death has nothing to do with car accidents, which are thankfully on the decline as a continued testament to Ralph Nader's 1965 groundbreaking work, "Unsafe at any Speed". Although, I do find that the operation of motor vehicles is a good analogy for the use of a gun.
My basis is mostly centered around food, personal health, and environmental quality.
Deaths by causes other than guns, 2001-2010:
Global Starvation: 78,804,000 (estimated by a person dying every 3.6sec from hunger) Comparative ratio to gun deaths 0.3%
Heart Disease: 5,379,201 (averaged using 2010 data) - in many cases, a problem addressed by dietary and lifestyle changes. Comparative ratio to gun deaths 5.6%
Cancer: 5,172, 687 - (averaged using 2010 data) a disease often caused by pollution, lifestyle, diet, etc. Comparative ratio to gun deaths 5.9%
Lower respiratory disease: 1,242,720 - (averaged using 2010 data) pollution, smoking, etc. Comparative ratio to gun deaths 24%
Diabetes: 621,639 - (averaged using 2010 data) Type II Diabetes is becoming an epidemic, along with obesity. Comparative ratio to gun deaths 49%
Obesity now kills 3x as many than malnutrition (>3,000,000/yr worldwide) . Certainly a preventable cause of death.
Number of Global Residents killed by the US military machine: - ???????? I am sure that it is above 5,187.
All of these matters, including gun violence, are of grave importance. I am not a fan of sensationalized media spin, or political rhetoric. The national discussion on gun control is flush with both.
Death tolls are of importance no matter what the number. Quick and dirty images can seem very reasonable at first glance, but upon deeper investigation they do not hold as much clout. Numbers and graphs like this are not straightforward, and they posit to smother any competing narrative.
We absolutely need to do something about gun violence in the United States, but it is obvious that fundamental issues are not being addressed, and the pubic is being sold a knee-jerk reaction, which ruthlessly exploits personal emotions.
Every life is sacred. Even if one person is affected by the existence and use of guns, it deserves our attention. I do not think many politicians truly care about human life. On either side of this "debate" they are playing to interests that have nothing to do with a genuinely peaceful society.
It is rather stark irony that the metric used to compare gun deaths are soldiers who have died in combat. Our very nature as a nation is to kill. The ones posing to take guns away are not just holding guns themselves, they have missiles pointed at every corner of the globe, and now on our own populous. It is no wonder that we, as citizens, have gone as mad as they have. Perhaps we set the ball rolling the first place...
The topic at hand concerning mass shootings is a serious problem. None of my opinion here is meant to dismiss that, or to negate the suffering of a victim or survivor in such a tragedy. However, when I saw this graph it glowed of propaganda. Do I support background checks? Absolutely. Guns are of a nature where that is a given.
US citizens have the right to posses firearms. I am not deluded enough to think this will ever be an answer to government oppression. If it were, they would have been used for that a long time ago.
Restricting the use of guns is of no consequence to a person intending to cause harm. The worst atrocities on US soil have been accomplished with no gun in hand. The worst acts of violence on this planet have been orchestrated by the very government who postures to be in charge of properly managing guns to supposedly abate harm. If we are going to start disarming, I would like to see them make the first move...
Sources for the numbers:
Deaths by Suicide: http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/01/20/the-gun-toll-ignoring-suicide/xeWBHDHEvvagfkRlU3CfZJ/story.html
http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
Gun Deaths: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
Starvation Deaths: http://www.poverty.com/
Disease Deaths: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm
Obesity: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9742960/Obesity-killing-three-times-as-many-as-malnutrition.html
The gun toll we’re ignoring: suicide - The Boston Globe
www.bostonglobe.com
You wouldn’t know it from the national debate, but most American firearm deaths aren’t murder.
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