Reply #83: Sorry, but it doesn't work that way.

[eqfan592]

You are comparing apples to oranges. The vast majority of the vehicular deaths are accidental, where as a large percentage of firearm deaths are from homicides (80% of which are gang related, pointing the real source of the problem) and suicides, as well as justifiable homicides. To make a fair comparison, we should limit ourselves to accidental deaths resulting from cars and firearms.

It appears that there are, on average, around 700-1000 accidental deaths related to firearms each year (with the trend being downward and a projected total of around 650 for last year). Compare this to automobiles which result in 30,000-40,000 deaths per year, almost all of which are accidental. I think you can see where this is going for you.

EDIT: Also, a home defense firearm is in operation 24/7 generally speaking. This is a firearm that the person is maintaining some level of access too as long as they are in the residence. A car sitting in the garage is serving no purpose, thus it makes sense not to count that time in your figures. But a house defense firearm is a different story. Honestly, in general, I don't think your calculations are very well thought out.