The "gun deaths" fraud

[choochboost]

The anti-gunners say gun control measures in Canada has proven to save lives. They point to the fact that the number of "gun deaths" in Canada are down. But the author of this very interesting article points out that this is not necessarily true. Follow the link and scroll half way down the page and look at #12 in the list.
http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=pb&id=790

 

[scooterthegreat]

The first thing I noticed in #12 is that written by a guy named "Mauser"...

 

[choochboost]

Wow, nothing gets by you. Very observant. I guess that explains it...the author is biased.

 

[AndyC]

Hmmm, seems like he's actually legit:

"Gary Mauser is Professor in Business Administration, and in the Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies, at Simon Fraser University. He is author of the 2003 Fraser Institute study The Failed Experiment: Gun Control and Public Safety in Canada, Australia, England and Wales."

 

[hso]

Excellent bit from the article showing the silliness of saying if guns aren't available people won't commit suicide -
"Over the past
decade in Canada, as firearms have
fallen out of fashion as a method of ending
one’s life, hanging has increased in
popularity, almost doubling in frequency
since 1995. The net result is that
the suicide rate in Canada has remained
relatively stable over the past ten years,
declining very slightly from 13 to 12 per
100,000 population.4 If reduced access
to guns is indeed responsible for the
decline in suicides involving firearms, it
has not saved any lives.5 Unfortunately,
determined people still manage to find
ways to end their own lives."

"Canadian suicide rates are higher than
those in the US. Despite the greater
availability of guns in the US, suicide
rates (by any method) have long been
higher in Canada than in the US. In
2001, the overall suicide rate was 11.9 in
Canada and 10.7 in the US (WISQARS
and Statistics Canada’s Canadian Vital
Statistics—Death Database). This would
be unlikely if overall suicide rates were
driven primarily by the availability of
firearms. It is simplistic to think that
suicide hinges upon the availability of
any single method."

 

[CJ]

I did a runthrough of available CDC statistics at one point. If I'm remembering correctly, firearm suicides seem to be about the only thing that lends enough numbers to the old "Your firearm is XXX times more likely to kill someone in your household than an intruder".

This is a "well duh" statistic, but doesn't really tell the whole truth.

Attempted suicide is likely to be more successful (plenty of time to set everything up) and will use the most readily available firearm (i.e. the one in the house).

Intruders can first be deterred without firing a shot due to the implicit threat of the firearm, deterred once a shot has been fired and not hit, and deterred by being hit in a non-CNS area giving them enough time to get medical treatment. So each one of those is not counted when compared to...suicides and accidents. CDC info is really interesting on a lot of topics and can shed a lot of light on supposed 'facts' by antis...ages of deaths, causes of accidents, etc.