When do statistics count?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

You're looking at it wrong - you have to factor in the numbers in the groups doing the shooting and killing.

There are about 700 000 full time law enforcement officers in the US. 1000 deaths by cop equals 0.00143.

There are roughly 80 000 000 civilian firearm owners in the US. 45 000 deaths by civilian equals 0.000562.

This means you are approximately 2.5 time MORE likely to be shot and killed by one of the boys in blue than you are by a member of the public.

Boru

Isn't it depressing that the only cop apologists can make the police seem less worryingly gun-happy is by comparing them to average joes on the street or suicide victims or oceanic predators?

A slightly more simplistic (but also more illustrative way) to look at it is:

80 000 000 civilians kill 45 000 people per year with guns.

700 000 cops kill 1000 people per year with guns.

If there were as many cops as there are armed civilians, - and nothing else changed - deaths by cop would be in the neighbourhood of 114 000 per year, with no change in the number of gun deaths by civilians. The chief reason that cops kill - in raw numbers - fewer people than armed civilians do is that there are fewer cops.

Boru