Symmetry wrote:thegreekdog wrote:comic boy wrote:TGD
I wouldn't have the least idea how present levels of gun violence in the USA compare with previous centuries , you got any stats ?
Gun related deaths are related to the quantity and availability of guns, period. Would homocides stop without the availability of guns , of course not , but accidental deaths and spree killings would almost certainly decrease.
Yeah, I think that would be the case as well, I'm just not sure. Unfortunately, my firm has an automatic block on any searches involving the word "gun" on google (this is also related to reason I cannot see many Hot and Sexy pictures in that thread) and wikipedia only has statistics from 1976 to 2004.
Here is a link to the graph in Wiki...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ushom ... weapon.svg
It details homicides (which include suicides and accidental killings) by weapon type. Handguns account for by far the most deaths and reached a peak in 1993 of about 14,000. "Other guns" (not sure what is in that category) accounted for far less (less than knives, for example) and had a peak in 1980 of about 4,000.
I suspect that the legality and availability of guns do have a relation to homicides in the United States. That seems like common sense. But, ultimately, the question is whether there is some other factor at work. That could be anything from cultural issues generally and criminality generally to poor schools to violent video games and movies.
On the suicide issue, easy access to a method is certainly a big part, It's common sense that someone who wants to die will find a way, but it's one of those areas where common sense is wrong.
I may have misheard this, but wasn't there a study that showed that different types of people tended to commit suicides in different ways? For example, women wouldn't, generally, shoot themselves, while men would.