Re: GUNS: Fear of Guns Vs. Fear of No Guns

Michael S. Lorrey (mike@lorrey.com)
Tue, 08 Jun 1999 09:18:36 -0400

"Joe E. Dees" wrote:

> Date sent: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 22:10:32 -0400
> From: "Michael S. Lorrey" <mike@lorrey.com>
>
> > "Joe E. Dees" wrote:
> > >
> > > Date sent: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 19:24:20 -0400
> > > From: "Michael S. Lorrey" <mike@lorrey.com>
> > > >
> > > > These are accident rates, not crime rates. Get your facts straight. Accidental gunshot
> > > > related injuries for 1995 for people under 15 or 18 was about 250. Using suicides or
> > > > criminal on criminal gun violence as justification for controlling law abiding usage
> > > > is insane, about as insane as using government perpetrated gun crime in europe to
> > > > justify taking civilian guns away.
> > > >
> > > The precise figures for 1995 are as follows:
> > > a)Justifiable Homicides.....................................616
> > > b)Murders...................................................13,790
> > > (total homicides)( a + b) ----------------------------------------------------14,406
> > > c)Suicides..................................................18,503
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > Total........................................................ 32,909
> > > >
> >
> > You did not even mention accidental deaths, which is what we were
> > talking about. Stop changing the subject.
> >
> >
> You're right; all these more that 30,000 gunshot related deaths in a
> single year (1995) were INTENTIONAL, and less than 2% of the
> total is justifiable! Factor in accidental deaths, and the toll rises
> higher still.

If you can't show any intellectual integrity or honesty, please stop debating. For that matter, where are all the manslaughters???? If you don't include those important deaths, what is the purpose of your statistics unless they are outright lies? A homicide is not a murder, and a justified homicide is not a negligent homicide, which is also missing. Also keep in mind that many jurisdictions do not call self defense a justifiable reason to kill someone, there are thousands of abused wives in prison for 'murdering' their abusive spouses.

However, before you so rudely interrupted, we were just talking about accidental deaths, not intentional ones. However I am glad you brought it up. How can you claim that even 14,000 deaths a year, 90% of which are criminal on criminal, is more important than the fact that private gun ownership prevents 2.5 million crimes a year? Or that the criminal on criminal homicides and murders are not a public service?

Mike Lorrey