(December 3, 2012 at 3:38 pm)Napoléon Wrote: Although I find the picture funny, that statistic is still massively besides the point. I bet a shit ton more people go the hospital everyday than own a gun.
You'd be surprised
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/hospital.htm
Hospital inpatient care
Number of discharges: 36.1 million
Discharges per 10,000 population: 1,181.2
Average length of stay in days: 4.9
Number of procedures performed: 48.0 million
Hospital outpatient department care
Number of outpatient department visits: 96.1 million
Outpatient visits per 100 persons: 31.9
Hospital emergency department care
Number of emergency department visits: 136.1 million
Emergency department visits per 100 persons: 45.1
Number of emergency department visits resulting in hospital admission: 17.1 million
Number of emergency department visits resulting in admission to critical care unit: 2.2 million
http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
Number of Privately Owned Firearms:
The estimated total number of guns held by civilians in the United States is 270,000,0001
Rate of Civilian Firearm Possession per 100 Population:
The rate of private gun ownership in the United States is 88.82 firearms per 100 people
I'm no statistician but there may even be some overlap in outpatient care & emergency care that would make the actual hospital care ratio even smaller.
"How is it that a lame man does not annoy us while a lame mind does? Because a lame man recognizes that we are walking straight, while a lame mind says that it is we who are limping." - Pascal