Danoff
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- Mile High City
I've seen the same 30k number used in some articles. So I tried to find the source of this number. After some web-searching, I found that it relates to overall deaths from guns.
I found the following link that gives us the data from 2006 for deaths from firearms, which breaksdown as follows:
Suicides_____16,883
Homicides____12,791
Accidents_______642
Other___________580
Total________30,896
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/GUNS/GUNSTAT.html
I also read part of FoolKiller's excellant link above, and found some additional data from the CDC in regard to accidental guns deaths during 2001. The CDC reported 802 accidental gun deaths during 2001 (which is similar to the number shown in FoolKiller's post above).
Most articles that I've seen, talk about the strong link between suicides and having guns in the house, but also point out the weak link between homicides and gun ownership.
Edit: I see that I've been tree'd by LizMcQueen due to my slow typing. Must need more practice. I'm off to the 'Ring for said practice!
Respectfully,
GTsail
All of the numbers reported above added together are dwarfed by the number of times guns are used to thwart crimes annually in the US. Guns are far more likely to be used in self-defense than in committing a crime. Some reports will disagree with that claim, but those reports require a shot to be fired to count as a case where guns are used in self-defense - which is silly.