Les Jones

Guns > Gun Control, or, I Like Those Odds

Chris Byrne - Never tell me the odds:

Each year in the United States, there are 26-30,000 deaths by firearm. As of 2006, Roughly 55% of them are suicides (the number varies greatly year to year, between 40% and 60%).

Of the remaining 10,000 to 18,000, somewhere between 60% and 80% (depending on the year) are one felon killing another (according to the FBI).

The number of non-felons killed (other than suicides) using a gun in the US is anywhere from 2,000 to 7,000 a year (again, highly variable year to year). About 20% of those are accidents, and 80% are murders. Of those murders approximately 80% were committed by people with felony records.

Whenever someone quotes statistics on U.S. gun deaths it's important to remember that more than half of those deaths are suicides. Chris has more stats comparing gun deaths to other causes of death in the U.S. By his count if you don't plan on committing suicide and you're not a felon you're more likely to be struck by lightning or hit by a train than to be killed by a gun.