Finish this sentence: " I am going to go get a ___ and kill myself." What word did you use? If you used the three letter word that is the topic of protest on both sides of late, why did you use that word? I think it was because:
1) This is the word most commonly used in this (unfortunate) saying.
2) A (___) is the suicide method most commonly used. (Yeah, you know what it is)
In fact, guns are used way more for suicide than for protection. The statistics are so sad:
USA 2011 Figures:
Gun suicides: 19,766 (Approximately half of all suicides were by gun)
Accidental gun deaths: 851
Gun deaths (cause undetermined) 222
Gun homicides 11,101 (over 2/3 of all homicides were by gun)
I keep hearing "I need a gun for protection." And yet, people with a gun in the home are at greater risk of dying of a violent crime than people without a gun in the home.**
People say that gun control does not work. Look at Australia. Gun control works.***
People say "Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
Please. Get off it. See the first sentence? Did you insert "person" in the blank? Uh, yeah, no. Then you do know what I am talking about here. Stop the BS.
I have more to say about the gun issue. Later. Tune in again.
* http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
** http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/10/929.full
*** http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/02/did-gun-control-work-in-australia/
