Anyone have any stats on firearm vs car deaths.

[chetrogers]

Somebody on a different form is trying to tell me that more people die from firearms then die from automobile accidents. I feel there is no way that they are right, but am curious if anyone has any statistics that would prove me or them correct. Thanks for any info.

 

[marley]

If you belive madd about 50,000 die on the high ways. Not sure the total firearms deaths but about 12,000 are murdered every year not all with firearms. Suicide and nd's included. I don't read about them very often so i would say not too many. Would love to know some actual figures. Patrick

 

[General Geoff]

Not a chance in hell. I don't have statistics on hand, but I'd venture that probably five times as many people die from car accidents in the United States as firearms, including all justified uses of firearms (law enforcement use, etc).



edit; Visit http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus10.html

Leading cause of death in 2004 in America was Unintentional Injury (for age group of 15-24), of which the main cause was motor vehicle accidents, which amounted to over 10,000. Second highest cause of death was homicide for that particular age group, of which firearms related injuries ranked ~4,000.

All other age groups, the discrepency was mugh higher.

 

[Lashlarue]

Auto fatalities have leveled off to around 43,000, firearms fatalities about 16,000 with more than half being self inflicted.Auto fatalities per 100,000 people are gradually declining.Leading cause of death other than disease is in your home, with a ladder being involved a majority of the time.Accidental deaths of children by firearms also declining drastically, standing at 802 in 2005. Actually more children die from being run over by a relative[usually a parent]. in their own driveway than an accidental firearm discharge. Were I an anti-, I would be demanding laws being passed to ban parking in your own driveway." Think of the children"

 

[Librarian]

Just the 24 years easily available:

1981 - 2004, United States
Overall Motor Vehicle Deaths and Rates per 100,000
All Races, Both Sexes,

               Number of                    Crude     Age-Adjusted
  Year            Deaths   Population***     Rate           Rate**

  1981            51,436     229,465,316    22.42            21.24
  1982            45,852     231,664,211    19.79            18.82
  1983            44,519     233,792,237    19.04            18.20
  1984            46,328     235,825,040    19.65            18.75
  1985            45,958     237,924,038    19.32            18.50
  1986            47,918     240,133,048    19.95            19.06
  1987            48,375     242,289,046    19.97            19.19
  1988            49,138     244,499,040    20.10            19.48
  1989            47,646     246,819,195    19.30            18.86
  1990            46,895     249,464,396    18.80            18.40
  1991            43,631     252,980,942    17.25            16.98
  1992            41,094     256,514,231    16.02            15.87
  1993            42,015     259,918,595    16.16            16.07
  1994            42,646     263,125,826    16.21            16.17
  1995            43,484     266,278,403    16.33            16.29
  1996            43,747     269,394,291    16.24            16.21
  1997            43,591     272,646,932    15.99            16.01
  1998            43,647     275,854,116    15.82            15.81
  1999            42,624     279,040,181    15.28            15.24
  2000            43,604     281,421,906    15.49            15.46
  2001            43,987     285,107,923    15.43            15.35
  2002            45,579     287,984,799    15.83            15.74
  2003            44,929     290,850,005    15.45            15.33
  2004            45,113     293,656,842    15.36            15.21

1981 - 2004, United States
Firearm Deaths and Rates per 100,000
All Races, Both Sexes,

               Number of                    Crude     Age-Adjusted
  Year            Deaths   Population***     Rate           Rate**

  1981            34,050     229,465,316    14.84            14.65
  1982            32,957     231,664,211    14.23            14.04
  1983            31,099     233,792,237    13.30            13.13
  1984            31,331     235,825,040    13.29            13.08
  1985            31,566     237,924,038    13.27            13.03
  1986            33,373     240,133,048    13.90            13.54
  1987            32,895     242,289,046    13.58            13.23
  1988            33,989     244,499,040    13.90            13.51
  1989            34,776     246,819,195    14.09            13.75
  1990            37,155     249,464,396    14.89            14.53
  1991            38,317     252,980,942    15.15            14.83
  1992            37,776     256,514,231    14.73            14.46
  1993            39,595     259,918,595    15.23            15.00
  1994            38,505     263,125,826    14.63            14.43
  1995            35,957     266,278,403    13.50            13.39
  1996            34,040     269,394,291    12.64            12.58
  1997            32,436     272,646,932    11.90            11.84
  1998            30,708     275,854,116    11.13            11.08
  1999            28,874     279,040,181    10.35            10.30
  2000            28,663     281,421,906    10.19            10.12
  2001            29,573     285,107,923    10.37            10.31
  2002            30,242     287,984,799    10.50            10.45
  2003            30,136     290,850,005    10.36            10.23
  2004            29,569     293,656,842    10.07             9.94

See WISQARS.

The trend from 1989 to 1993 led some people to believe that deaths by firearm would soon exceed deaths by motor vehicle traffic. Some less-informed people have not seen data after 1994 - while we are now in 2007....

 

[middlechainringguy]

That shocks me

Wow.

Librarian: thanks, I think, for that stat. So almost 30,000 Americans per year are killed with guns. I would have guessed an order of magnitude less. What are we doing/should we do to get that toll down? Granted that some large number of those deaths are victims, which is part of the reason that many of us advocate for RKBA. But RKBA is fragile if we don't move that metric down ...

My contribution: take my daughter to the range and teach her to respect firearms, and hope that she enjoys them enough to pass on her respect to others. Other thoughts?

--middlechainringguy

 

[Regolith]

middle...MORE than half of those numbers are suicides. Last i checked, only around 12,000 were due to homicides, accidental deaths, and justifiable homicide.

So, that means around 16000 to 18000 firearm deaths are SUICIDES. Now, given suicide data from around the world, it can be argued (quite effectively) that the suicide rate has nothing to do with the availability of firearms, but rather is more closely related to culture. For instance, Japan's suicide rate is more than three times that of the US despite the unavailability of firearms. And its not the only example.

 

[Fburgtx]

Interesting article that came up on Drudge the other day....

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070809202217.9us2orhu&show_article=1


Seems to indicate that many gun deaths are likely due to the pervasive "gang culture" of the inner city.

 

[Mannix]

Breakdown of 2004 firearm related fatalities:

Unintentional: 649
Suicide: 16,750
Homicide: 11,624
Legal Intervention: 311
Undetermined: 235
Total: 29,569

Although if you look at JUST the unintentional deaths, you are 70 times more likely to be killed in an accident involving a car than on involving a firearm.

Another thing I think most of us can agree on is that most if not all murders/suicides could easily be accomplished by other means.

 

[Fburgtx]

So the odds of being MURDERED with a firearm in 2004 was about 1 in 25,806 (based on a population of about 300 million). Amazes me that some people are willing to rip up the Constitution and throw it out the window based on odds like that.

 

[carpediem]

So the odds of being MURDERED with a firearm in 2004 was about 1 in 25,806 (based on a population of about 300 million). Amazes me that some people are willing to rip up the Constitution and throw it out the window based on odds like that.

Look at the odds of being murdered in a terrorist attack vs the erosion of civil liberties

 

[IA_farmboy]

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_19.pdf

The CDC tracks such statistics. I did a bit of a search to find such data to show an anti-gun friend of mine. Good thing I saved the link. Also check out GunFacts.

http://www.gunfacts.info

 

[Tinker]

Chetrogers,

Not to hijack your subject, but you might also want to research "firearms deaths" vs. "medical mistakes deaths". I don't know the exact stats, but I did see them once. The jist was that you are way, way more likely to die from a medical mistake than a car wreck or a firearm.

 

[230RN]

Regolith said,

So, that means around 16000 to 18000 firearm deaths are SUICIDES. Now, given suicide data from around the world, it can be argued (quite effectively) that the suicide rate has nothing to do with the availability of firearms, but rather is more closely related to culture. For instance, Japan's suicide rate is more than three times that of the US despite the unavailability of firearms. And its not the only example.

I think it was Dave Kopel who pointed out that most of Japan's "suicides" are actually murders. Seems that when a guy is upset and decides to commit suicide, it is part of the honor code that he kills the rest of his family.

When it is reported statistically, the murders of his family members are each classed as suicides as welll. Part of the Bushido code, I guess.

This has the effect of radically deflating the murder rate and radically inflating the suicide rate.

And talk about "other methods" of committing suicide, if I recall correctly from other sources, the major method of "suicide" in Japan is by pesticides.

Ick.

What a way to go.

 

[Guitargod1985]

Hmmm I found that 42,065~ were killed by auto accidents in 1997 and only 10,369* were murdered using firearms.

~Highways only.
*Does not include NDs and suicides.

 

[Shifty]

also, keep in mind that among those murdered with firearms, that does not take into account gang shootings vs other gangsters, or non LEO shootings in self defense.

i forget some study done in NYC i believe showed that most of its murders were done by felons that were not able to legally own firearms, and a good number of those killed were criminals themselves.

someone around here knows what i'm talking about, because i'm pretty sure i got the info from here.

 

[Librarian]

Librarian: thanks, I think, for that stat. So almost 30,000 Americans per year are killed with guns. I would have guessed an order of magnitude less.

Staying in the context of the original question, note that substantially all of the deaths due to motor vehicles are accidental. For devices everyone would agree are not "designed to kill", that's awfully dangerous.

On the other hand, darn few of those deaths by firearm are accidental (you can get it from Wisqars yourself, but IIRC it's well under 1,000 per year [ I just looked - under 1K since 1997 ].) How does one control deliberate acts, positive decisions to end a life via murder or suicide? I don't think it's by worrying about means.

There is one aspect that might be controllable: alcohol. That's involved in about 17K traffic deaths per year the last 12 years. But we've tried Prohibition ...

Allow me to note some generalities, mostly because I can't quickly find good data. A number of 'things I have read' indicate that alcohol is involved in a portion of 'arguments'; the FBI's data for 2005 says

Concerning the circumstances surrounding murders, arguments (including romantic triangles) comprised 27.1 percent of reported murder circumstances. Circumstances were unknown for 37.8 percent of reported homicides.

and

Of the homicides for which the type of weapon was specified, firearms were used in 72.6 percent of the offenses. (Based on Expanded Homicide Data Table 7.) Of the identified firearms used, handguns comprised 87.3 percent.

With 14,860 murders in 2005, alcohol might be involved in some unknown percentage of about 3,000 of the murders (72% of 27%, rounded). So, one could speculate that perhaps a couple thousand murders per year might be avoided if people were more circumspect in their drinking, along with probably more than ten thousand annual traffic deaths.

Concerning suicides, some proportion of people who commit suicide have been drinking.

Acute alcohol use is associated with suicide. Suicide completers have high rates of positive blood alcohol. Intoxicated people are more likely to attempt suicide using more lethal methods. Alcohol may be important in suicides among individuals with no previous psychiatric history.

Alcohol dependence is an important risk factor for suicidal behaviour. Mood disorder is a more powerful risk factor for suicide among problem drinkers as age increases. All individuals with alcohol use disorders should be assessed for suicide, especially at the end of a binge or in the very early phase of withdrawal. Middle-age and older men with alcohol dependence and mood disorders are at particularly high risk.

link
The Suicide Reference Library is very cautious:

General Population

The exact nature of alcohol's role in suicide is unclear. Many explanations have been proposed (Murphy et al. 1992, Shaffer 1993, Garvey and Tollefson 1982, Zeichner et al. 1994, and Yang 1992). Nonetheless, a strong association exists between alcohol use and suicide.

* Between 18% and 66% of suicide victims have alcohol in their blood at the time of death (Roizen 1988; Welte et al. 1988, Collier et al. 1986, Berkelman et al. 1985).
* People who drink are twice as likely, and people whose drinking results in trouble at work are six times as likely, as others to commit suicide in the home (Rivara et al. 1997).
* One study suggests that alcohol may be a factor in "impulsive" or "spontaneous" as opposed to "planned" suicides. Alcohol was found to be involved more frequently in suicides in which the victim left no suicide note, had not made a prior suicide attempt, and had no long-standing physical or mental condition to which the suicide could be related.

So, theoretically, some portion of firearm suicides are probably associated with alcohol use, and some portion of them might be avoidable with better alcohol management.

But alcohol looks to be a problem 5-8 times as big for people who are on the roads than people who are around guns.

[ And yes, I drink beer, wine and whisky/whiskey, in what I think is reasonable moderation. ]

 

[Phelptwan]

Isn't there a website with a death statistics ticker somewhere...it shows deaths from suicides, guns, autos, alcohol, cigarettes, etc, etc. I can't remember where I saw it before but it was pretty cool.

 

[GunTech]

Just remember that most of the 'murders' via guns are criminals killing other criminals.

 

[Librarian]

Isn't there a website with a death statistics ticker somewhere

Deaths-Leading Causes

Number of deaths for leading causes of death

Heart disease: 654,092
Cancer: 550,270
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 150,147
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 123,884
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 108,694
Diabetes: 72,815
Alzheimer's disease: 65,829
Influenza/Pneumonia: 61,472
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 42,762
Septicemia: 33,464

Source: Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2004, tables 7

or this:
What are the odds of dying?

All External Causes of Mortality, V01-Y89, *U01, *U03 166,857

Deaths Due to Unintentional (Accidental) Injuries, V01-X59, Y85-Y86 109,277

Transport Accidents, V01-V99, Y85 48,071

or this for an international comparison.

What, you expected one nice tidy answer? Where's the fun in that?

 

[25 Pdr]

Here in the UK it would appear that Police Cars kill almost as many people as guns.

Between 1998 and 2003 an average of 72 people were killed with firearms

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3868411.stm

And figures from the 12 months 2004/2005 showed that 106 people were killed by Police 44 of which were by Police cars

http://www.guardian.co.uk/celldeaths/article/0,,1646336,00.html

So it would be fair to say looking at these simple statistics that people should be just as scared of Police cars as as they are of guns.

But that is a statistic that will never appear in the press

 

[buck00]

* Tobacco kills FAR more people than firearms each year in the U.S. They bring this stat up in "Thank You for Smoking." Pretty interesting film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_You_for_Smoking


http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/tables/health/attrdths.htm

Tobacco 435,000
Poor Diet and Physical Inactivity 365,000
Alcohol 85,000
Microbial Agents 75,000
Toxic Agents 55,000
Motor Vehicle Crashes 26,347
Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs 32,000
Suicide 30,622
Incidents Involving Firearms 29,000
Homicide 20,308
Sexual Behaviors 20,000
All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect 17,000
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin 7,600