Does Having a Gun in the Home Put You at Risk?

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/does-having-gun-home-put-you-risk

***SNIP

What do we know about guns in the home and violence? Consider a 2004 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Researchers sought to determine whether having a firearm increases the risk of a violent death in the home and whether risk varies by storage practice, type of gun, or the number of guns in the home. Among the findings:

People with guns in the home were at greater risk than those without guns in the home of dying from a homicide in the home.
They were also at greater risk of dying from a firearm homicide (risk varied by age and whether the person was living with others at the time of death).
The risk of dying from a suicide in the home was greater for males in homes with guns than for males without guns in the home.
People with guns in the home were more likely to have died from suicide committed with a firearm than from suicide using a different method.
Bottom line: Researchers found that no matter what kind of storage was used, no matter the type or number of guns, having a gun in the home increased the risk of firearms homicide and suicide.

A reasonable person might weigh the risk of suicide or homicide and decide that the threat of an intruder is greater. Proponents of lax gun safety laws argue that guns can effectively be used to deter crime in the home. But is that really true? The data is shaky. CNN’s David Frum reports that government figures from the National Survey of Criminal Victimization indicate 100,000 uses a year of guns in self-defense against crime, most of the time by displaying the weapon to stop a criminal.

[Iggy]

1. Just Look at the Statistics...

Remember this sad event a few weeks ago: Father shoots son dead outside their home-- thought he was a robber? and this: Father shoots son dead while walking to car, after leaving gun shop.

Or how many times have we read this: Seven year old Billy shot six year old neighbor Tommy dead while playing with his dad's loaded handgun? these are not just "isolated" examples... this kind of crap is going on more or less daily in our nation.

FAIL.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. When you look at the statistics, there is a major hole in them

Defensive Gun Use is unquantified and is arguably unquantifiable. There are no metrics taken and in many cases no way to get them.

Both sides put their spin on it, but both are making things up. The antis think it rarely happens, the pro gunners think it is a daily occurrence for lots of people. Neither have a sound footing for their claims.

Without that kind of stats, anyone claim that firearms make things more or less dangerous is arguing from agenda, not facts.

[Iggy]

8. Huhh? I'm not talking about Defensive Gun Use...

I'm talking about the dozens of children killed each year either by accident, or because one kid gets hold of his dad's loaded handgun (stupidly left lying around the house) and shoots the neighbor kid dead, or somebody in his family.

these stats ARE quantifiable.

[Indydem]

2. These studies are full of fail

They always fail to do the most important thing possible when evaluation these statistics: establish why the owner had a firearm.

Most gun deaths in this country are a result of gang and inner city violence. If a gun owner has a gun because they are a thug, they are going to have a higher probability of dying.

[Kolesar]

5. Coke dealers for 2A rights!

Constitutional rights !!

[Robb]

6. OK, then consider this.

How many fewer of those thugs would kill each other every year if none of them had access to firearms? Surely there would be reduction in deaths.

Is any reduction in deaths worth working toward? Or do the thugs -- and every non-thug they might shoot -- not deserve it?

[srican69]

4. I tried to kill myself once..by hanging myself with a telephone wire..

I was in the process when my landlord rang the door bell....it bought me back to my senses...and ive never considered such a stupid thing again..

If I had had a gun...I wouldn't be typing this today