There was a new poll released today, trying to figure out Why people own Guns?
(and Why a sizable segment of population [63%] choose NOT to own Guns?)
Poll: Protection is main reason for owning guns
by Jackie Kucinich, USAToday.com-- March 12, 2013
[...]
Among gun owners surveyed, 48% said they own them for protection, while 32% said they own a firearm mainly for hunting purposes. That's a large shift from 1999 when 26% of those surveyed said they owned a gun for protection, while 49% said they used it mainly for hunting, according to an August 1999 poll conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post.
Non-gun owners also cited safety as a main reason for not owning a firearm -- 39% said accidents were among their greatest concerns about having a gun.
[...]
The poll showed that the majority of gun owners in the USA are white men who are Republican or lean Republican.
[...]
What do you think --
Does having easy access to guns in the home make you more or less safe?
Having seen 2 close family members harmed or killed by guns, and having been robbed at gunpoint myself -- I have my own thoughts on the matter.
But I thought I check out if there were any "hard data" to back up my deeply-felt, hard-learned, gut-wrenching instincts ...
Turning the page here, is easier than having to continually turn it, in that ever-faster whirling wheel of life.
Do guns make us more safe, or less? Let’s look at the research.
by Fabius Maximus 23 January 2013
[...]
(2) Do guns in the home make you safer?
“Risks and Benefits of a Gun in the Home“, David Hemenway, American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, November/December 2011 — Abstract:
This article summarizes the scientific literature on the health risks and benefits of having a gun in the home for the gun owner and his/her family. For most contemporary Americans, scientific studies indicate that the health risk of a gun in the home is greater than the benefit.
* The evidence is overwhelming for the fact that a gun in the home is a risk factor for completed suicide and that gun accidents are most likely to occur in homes with guns.
* There is compelling evidence that a gun in the home is a risk factor for intimidation and for killing women in their homes.
On the benefit side, there are fewer studies, and there is no credible evidence of a deterrent effect of firearms or that a gun in the home reduces the likelihood or severity of injury during an altercation or break-in. Thus, groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics urge parents not to have guns in the home.
Here's some of that "hard data" I just dug out of that scholarly article referenced above:
American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF LIFESTYLE MEDICINE -- published online 2 February 2011
by David Hemenway, PhD, -- Director, Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health
[...]
Accidents
According to death certificate data, from 2003 to 2007, more than 680 Americans per year were killed unintentionally with firearms. Data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (which has more comprehensive data on each shooting but currently is operating only in 18 states) show that two thirds of the accidental shooting deaths occurred in someone’s home, about half of the victims were younger than 25 years, and half of all deaths were other inflicted—the victim was typically shot accidentally by a friend or family member (eg, brother.)[3] It appears that the large majority of accidental shooting deaths in the home are from guns that were kept in the home.
Children aged 5 to 14 years in the United States have 11 times the likelihood of being killed accidentally with a gun compared with similarly aged children in other developed countries (Table 1).[4]
[...]
[Suicides]
The evidence linking suicide to gun availability is compelling. The American Association of Suicidology consensus statement on youth suicide concludes:
There is a positive association between the accessibility and availability of firearms in the home and the risk of youth suicide; guns in the home, particularly loaded guns, are associated with increased risk for suicide by youth, both with and without identifiable mental health problems or suicidal risk factors.[52]
[...]
Homicides
From 2003 to 2007, 33 Americans per day were murdered with guns. This includes almost 1 child (aged 0-14 years), 5 teenagers (aged 15-19 years), and more than 7 young adults (aged 20-24 years) per day. More than two thirds of all homicides in the United States during this period were firearm homicides. The US rate of firearm homicide for children aged 5 to 14 years is 13 times higher than the firearms homicide rate of other developed nations (Table 1), and our firearms homicide rate for 15- to 24-year-olds is 43 times higher. [...]
The presence of a gun makes quarrels, disputes, assaults, and robberies more deadly. Many murders are committed in a moment of rage. [...]
Intimidation
[...]
A study of battered women in emergency shelters in California (a state in which more than 600 000 women each year experience intimate partner violence) found that if there were a gun in the home, nearly two thirds of the male partners involved had used the gun to scare, threaten, or harm the women. In contrast, women rarely used the gun in self-defense; fewer than 7% of these women had used a gun in self-defense and only against batterers who had used a gun against them.[76]
[...]
Deterrence
Theoretically, knowledge that potential victims have access to firearms could increase the perceived cost of committing a crime to a potential perpetrator and thus prevent the crime from occurring. However, there does not seem to be credible evidence that higher levels of gun ownership and availability actually deter crime. A criminologist once claimed that publicized police programs to train citizens in gun use in Orlando (to prevent rape) and in Kansas City (to prevent robbery) led to reductions in crime.[80] However, a careful analysis of the data found no evidence that crime rates changed in either location after the training.[81]
[...]
So which camp is right?
The Home Protectors or the Home Destroyers?
Don't wait to find out, by learning these hard-life-lessons the hard way, if you happen to find yourself among those 37% of American Homes, where loaded and easily accessible guns -- also reside.