Gun Control

Recent postings on the internet have included figures purporting to show that guns are the least major cause of death in the US. They claim that their figures are for “the first half of 2016”, but according to Snopes.com, those figures are actually a projection, based on figures from 2011. The most recent figures I could find were from 2014. Based on those figures, here are the actual US relevant statistics, including the most major causes of death, but not including fetal deaths from abortion, which is a separate issue.

Actual Death Figures (2014)*

Heart disease:                      614,348
Cancer:                              591,699
Smoking-related                  163,700
Other respiratory diseases:    147,101
Unintentional injuries:          136,053
Stroke:                              133,103
Alcohol:                              78,000 (excluding drunk driving)
Suicide:                             42,773 (including gun-related)
Automobile accidents:**         22,752 (excluding drunk driving)
Drunk driving:                       9,967
Murders by firearms***           8,124

* All figures are from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) except as otherwise noted. CDC reports some deaths in round numbers, such as alcohol- and smoking-related. 2014 is the most recent year for which all figures have been compiled.
** US Department Of Transportation (US DOT). Distracted driver-related auto accident death figures not available for 2014.
*** FBI  All sources agree that suicides account for 60% of all gun-related deaths, though specific figures are not consistent between sources. Alcohol-related firearms death figures not available for any year, but a 2014 research paper by University of Pennsylvania Professor of Epidemiology Charles Branas, Ph.D. states: “Over one-third of firearm injury decedents had acutely consumed alcohol prior to their death; over one-quarter of these decedents had heavily consumed alcohol.” (emphasis added)

Unlike firearms, which have legitimate use in home and self defense, farming, and hunting, alcohol and tobacco have no such legitimate uses, and caused approximately fifty times as many deaths as guns did in 2014, as nearly as can be determined.

If automobile deaths are included (non-alcohol-related), and are balanced by including gun-related and non-gun-related suicides, the figure drops to “only” thirty-five times as many. So programs aimed at reducing alcohol and tobacco and automobile misuse, or promoting alcohol, tobacco, and automobile safety, have the potential to prevent thirty-five to fifty times as many deaths than similar programs aimed at gun users.

Conclusion: those who are concerned about firearms use in crimes causing death would instead do well to re-direct their efforts toward alcohol, tobacco, and automobiles. Even considering all deaths caused by guns, and not just deliberate murders, gun-related deaths are a minute fraction of all preventable deaths in the United States, on the close order of 3%.  Even eliminating every single gun in the USA, if it could be done, and even if the killers did not find another way to kill, could only prevent 1 in 85 deaths at most.

I am not a gun owner, and am not associated with any gun rights organization. But I am a believer in searching out the truth and following it wherever it leads. It’s not the guns that are the problem, it’s the people. Preventing drunks, crazies, and terrorists from gaining access to automobiles, and convincing Americans to treat alcohol, tobacco, and cars with respect, would save many, many more lives than even the most stringent gun control laws could ever hope to accomplish.