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Originally posted by Kadath
You sure know how to make a guy feel good. 
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kadath
Finally, the only thing I will say with regard to gun control is that we had, in 2000, 28,663 gun deaths in this county. That's out of 148,209 "unnatural" deaths. Nearly 20% of the deaths are by gun. Cut/pierce deaths are just over 2000. Drowning, 4000. Falls, 14,000(but 13,000 of those are unintentional) Fire, 4000. Machinery, under 700. Gun deaths acount for a HUGE portion of the unnatural deaths in our county. The only thing that beats it is motor vehicles, at close to 47,000, with all but a few hundred unintentional. Guns are used in homicides. They kill people. A lot. On purpose. They are not tools. They are weapons. They kill.
Statistics taken from CDC.
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Well first off I agree with you -- guns are made with the intent to create injury and/or death. I don't think that any responsible legal gun owner would want them to be seen as anything else, and definitely not as toys or "tools" that anyone should use. An interesting thing about statistics, though, is that they can be used to prove anything. How many of those 28,000 gun deaths are suicide? How many are criminals which were killed in self-defense? How many are accidental deaths? Hunting accidents? Ammo reloading accidents? Homicidal clown attacks?
The only statistic that I'm really interested in is how many criminals use legally-acquired firearms to assault or kill innocent citizens. That number is what we should be concerned with lowering, by means of tougher sentences on violent criminals, and enabling the public to help protect itself.