CNN: Number of murders in 1998

S

Scaramanga

New member
From the CNN website: There were 16,914 murders in
1998, 60% of them by guns. If this is correct, and there are an estimated 200
million guns in America, .000051% of guns in America are used to murder people.
Remember that when someone uses a gun to defend themselves they are usually
charged with murder, and this inflates the murder rate even if it is ruled as
justifiable.

I am constantly amazed at the gun "crisis" that the media covers daily.

Someone please feel free to correct me if my math is off. I am still a bit tired after my Defensive Pistol class yesterday. :D

------------------
Strength does not come from physical capacity.
It comes from an indomitable will. -- Mahatma Gandhi
 
Scaramanga,

Your math is correct. Unfortunately, that .000051% is usually what makes the headlines. The media knows they can sell the gun debate at any time, so they do.
Thanks for the info, it will come in handy when people start throwing statistics and numbers around in a debate. I didn't realize it was that low! I'll use the .0000507 though, because it sounds even lower. Hmmm...that's so low, I can't remember how you would even say it!
 
Scaramanga,

You're math is mostly correct. You forgot to account for the 2 decimal places to change it to a percantage. It's acually .0051%. BTW, if you ever use this statistic you might also want to mention that it assumes that a different gun is used for each murder.

bkm...

------------------
Anyone worth shooting, is worth shooting twice...
 
Thanks Dorcas! I thought I had forgotten something. I should get more sleep before I divide! :-)

------------------
Strength does not come from physical capacity.
It comes from an indomitable will. -- Mahatma Gandhi
 
Divide and conquere (sp?)!

------------------
John/az

"The middle of the road between the extremes of good and evil, is evil. When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!
 
Once again your math is 'almost' correct. The estimate for total firearms in the U.S. was 217,000,000 in 1993. There is an average influx of 2,000,000 arms per year, so now we are up to 235,000,000. There are an estimate 270-280 million people in the U.S. now, so the percentages of guns used in murder and the percentage of people dying is even smaller. This is the math I use to argue against the anti statements the you are 43 times more likely to be injured by a gun in your home. If that was true don't you think those 235 million guns would be killing more gun owners of the 280 million people than the 10-12 thousand that die each year?
 
By the time this data was reported in my local rag, the decrease in gun homicides was being attributed solely to increased gun control laws. Which should demonstrate the madness for further gun control to cure the "gun crisis", as the only reason the report is not way far worse is that our beloved dictat... er, leaders have saved us from ouselves.

Oh, Bill, thank you SO much!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top