I’ll address Myth #5:
Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.
Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
And the possession of prescription narcotics is correlated with the risk of an accidental drug overdose.
From that very study (to show the error in cherry-picking) (my bolding):
"The majority of these studies, however,
inferred a passive exposure to a handgun (for example, a handgun present in the home). Little is known about the relationship between handgun purchase itself—the conscious decision to undergo a sustained close exposure to firearms—and subsequent risk of violent or firearm related mortality. "
The source is over ten years old.
• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
This link can be deceiving. In the first place, this study is dated 1998. Every scholar knows that supporting references should be no more than 5 years old, especially when one is trying to make a case for a change in legislation.
With only the abstract of this study to read, the conclusion can be misleading. Were the assaults and murders committed with legally or illegally-owned guns? The abstract also doesn’t mention the statistics broken down by city which, considering demographics, is useful to put the homicides into perspective.
It also does not state how many homeowners protected themselves by *warning *intruders that they had a gun, or *brandishing *the gun, without firing. The fact that only 13 of the cases firearms were actually discharged in self-defense hardly proves that guns have not been used in higher numbers in cases of self-defense.
• 43% of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
Some other facts: 50% of Americans leave chemicals unlocked in their homes
More than 80% of Americans leave their medications unsecured
Code:
92% of all poison exposures occur in homes
Poisonings are the second leading cause of unintentional home-injury death
and account for nearly one-third of all unintentional home injuries
Poisonings Second Leading Cause of Unintentional Injury Deaths in American Homes (news release, Washington, DC: Home Safety Council, Feb 5, 2004)
pr newswire.com (accessed 5 Feb 2004).
From the CDC:
cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_06.pdf
The leading causes of death – after medically-based / disease complications – are: Motor vehicle accidents, drug-induced deaths, accidental poisonings, falls, alcohol-related deaths, suicide by firearm, suicide by other means, assault by firearm, assault by other means/weapon, drowning, smoke/fire, accidental discharge by firearm. . .in that order.
Takeaway: You’re safer if you are in possession of a gun instead of a vehicle, drugs (prescription or OTC), poison/toxic substance, stairs/clutter/rugs or anything that increases the risk of a fall, and alcohol
Among the leading causes of accidental death for
infants, and barring congenital defects and SIDS, the leading causes of accidental infant mortality are due to drowning, suffocation, respiratory distress caused by inhalation of food, smoke/fire, poisoning.
The number of infant deaths associated with accidental discharge of firearms nationwide is “-", which typically means that the number is less than 10.
Takeaway: Your home would be safer for your infant if you had a gun in the house instead of a:
Code:
Bath
Swimming pool
Electrical outlet, or other fire-risk
Crib with blankets
Baby food
Prescription or OTC medication
• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.
*One *study. Which is 13 years old. (it seems whoever wrote this article is grasping at straws to make a case)
But if in challenging this “gun myth” they are trying to say that proper gun safety measures decrease the risk of death, then I can’t think of anyone who would disagree with that. It’s common sense. Just as it’s common sense that your child is more likely to die from drinking Drano if you don’t put a safety latch on your kitchen cupboards. Child’s curiosity, and all that.
Maybe I’m missing the point of this one study.
