THE Gun Thread

[weaponoffreedom]

Just as you may own a home even if and when a person is invading it, you still possess rights even if and when a person is violating them.

Most people who get shot, shoot themselves - either intentionally or accidentally, with the former accounting for half of gun deaths (or slightly better) year over year.  In fact, somewhere around 90% of people who get shot for any reason get shot by someone they know - with SO's topping that list if you happen to be female.  Red flag laws have been conclusively shown to prevent some portion of these shootings, particularly in cases of domestic violence (it's rare that a person goes straight to the guns, skipping your everyday beatings).  Suicides are trickier.  Alot of the time a person has never reached out for help - and guns tend to do the trick far better than any other means of offing yourself.  

You're more likely to get shot in a densely populated area compared to outlying suburbs and rural communities - but that relationship doesn't hold state to state - as louisiana, mississippi, missourri, wyoming, and alabama top the list of rates of gun death.....while new york, rhode island, new jersey, massachusetts, and hawaii have the lowest rates.   Additionally, state by state, you're more likely to get shot when gun ownership is high and gun regulations are low.  Simply put, both of these numbers correlate to red states, so let's just call it what it is.  

In each case above, the type of firearm you're likely to be shot by is a handgun - and not by a little, by alot.  The types of weapons creatively referred to as assault-style are used in about 10% of all shootings.  Rates of shootings go up when numbers of firearms go up, down when they go down.  In sum, there simply is no group responsible for 99% of shootings, but the single largest cohort is yourself or your SO in a red state with a handgun.  So, yes, people like you, as hard as it may be to believe - but that just goes to show the disparity between reality and perception when it comes to shootings.

Not sure where you are getting your facts from, but I now understand why you feel as you do.  I would quote some sources via a link, but I think that is a gainst the rules., thanks