In the USA about 2.3 Million of the *300 M people (*thanks Andrea) die each year.
In Canada there are 30 Million people and about 225,000 deaths are recorded annually. According to stafrickintistics most of us North Americans will exit stage left via the following causes thanks to a combination of genetics, behavioral factors and chance:
Heart 30%
Cancer 23%
Stroke 7%
Emphysema 5%
Accidental 4%
Diabetes 3%
Flu/Pneumonia 3%
Alzheimers 2.5%
Kidney 1.5%
Infection 1.5%
Suicide* 1.3%
Liver 1%
Hypertension .8%
MURDER .7%
*I am always surprised that so many people succumb to intentional self harm, 30,000 Americans (80 per day) and
4,000 Canadians .
I discovered that in the US there are about
14,ooo murders
per year compared to 500 in Canada.
Of those 14,000 Murders nearly 10,000 are the result of GUNS.
In Canada GUNS kill about 175 people.
That is 1 Canadian every 2nd day.
GUNS don't kill people,
Here in North America if you watch the News, TV Programs, play Video Games or go to the Movies, you are so overwhelmed with the images of GUNS that it would be easy to start getting completely paranoid.... and if Art, and I use the term loosely, truly imitated Life there would be about 100 million murders a year in North America... and all of them would be the result of GUNS!
In Canada (30M) there are estimated to be about 7M GUNS,
1.2M being heavily restricted Handguns.
In the USA (300M) there are an estimated
220 MILLION Guns,
75M of which are Handguns.
Mr. NRA,
PUHLEEEZE spare me the 2nd Ammendment Bullsh*t concerning the right to bare arms. America has the most powerful Armed Forces in history and a free press to monitor your government...
even though bloggers seem to be doing a better job of watching your government than the the media these days.
The Gun Lobby Nutjobs should stop hiding and forget about King George the 3rd and the British Army returning to conquer the Colonies..
they should be more concerned about President George the 2nd!
Where was I?
Of the 10,000 GUN Murders in America about
7,500 of them were committed using Handguns,
500 Shotguns and 400 were Rifles.
Firearms are now the 2nd(murder) and 3rd(suicide)causes of death for American Males aged 15-24 following Automobile accidents. That is as pathetic as it is frightening!
It seems to be self evident that the availability of GUNS figures significantly into the execution of a murder/criminal act whether it is premeditated or not.
GUNS offer the assailant several distinct advantages such as distance, use of force, a sense of power and the perception of invincibility.
Perhaps the most disturbing modern trend is the
'School Shooting'. 
The laissez faire attitude towards GUN control by all levels of Government and the incredible success of the multi Billion Dollar GUN industry and the tireless efforts of their lobbyists to keep GUNS easily available have come to fruition.
The accessibility of GUNS by disturbed Teenagers has resulted in a deplorable state of affairs. You cannot argue that these horrific episodes would not exist if those f*cking GUNS weren't so easy to get. The mere fact that this issue is not being given our full attention speaks volumes about our societal mindset.
Shame on us.
Our children should not have to live in Fear.
In the end the vast majority of us will speed up our demise from self inflicted overindulgences, unfortunate lifestyle choices, and activities which are listed here in order of their cumulative effects on our health.
1 Smoking
2 Eating
3 Drinking
4 Microbes
5 Toxins
6 GUNS
7 Sex
8 Cars
9 Drugs
Most of us will get to play out our hands (be they Environmental and/or Biological) according to the annoyingly accurate computations of the Life Insurance Companies..in the meantime....
...we need to worry about the kid down the street with a gun far more than whether or not Lil Kim has Nuclear Weapons in Bad Korea.
What do you think that we should do about GUNS?
Hey, what do I know, but the Americans DO in fact seem to covet that amendment that makes so many guns possible down there.
ReplyDeleteAnd, predictably, they're going to have a whole shitload of deaths by guns as a result.
When a society approves of and promotes the use of guns, a lot of people are going to die that way, as your post points out.
10,000 people out of 270 million in the U.S. every year? 170 out of
30 million in Canada, where guns are not nearly as readily available?
Duh.
I still will never forget gun lobbyist/terrible actor Charlton Heston walking away from Michael Moore's pointed, reasonable questions about the gun lobby in his movie...
Melt them down and turn them into roller skates or barbecues or some such other pleasant thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cherrypie. As for statistics, I heard yesterday that the USA is, at this very moment, hitting the 300 million mark. They always insist on being ten times more populous than us, don't they? :)
ReplyDeleteWhat should we do? Ban them completely. I don't want to hear the "then only the criminals will have guns" argument.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, we need to cut down on the ability of people to buy a gun. That's where we start.
And 500 deaths at the hands of a shotgun? My god, that has to be a terrible way to go. I'd take a simple rifle in the head if I had to choose.
within,
ReplyDeleteWe have discussed this at great length in the past and always come to the same conclusion..the availability of guns just makes it that much easier for someone to take that next step. If they weren't holding such a fearsome weapon these cowards would never even think of attempting to commit these horrific crimes.
Sorry about the US pop it is 300 not 270.. I actually had too many notes and the stats are combined from several studies..it doesn't make any real difference...I need a editor.
cherrypie,
Great idea..we could include bikes and building frames almost anything would be better...of course how do we get those lawless countries to follow suit? Are the Bobbies armed now?
andrea,
Thanks you're right. I actually had 295/297/270M from all the different years that the GUN stats were assembled and I kept fighting blogger on this baby for about an hour AAARRGGHH! Why does it do this???
We could build new bridges or ferris wheels or hot dog carts...now that I think about it the Americans must shake their heads in utter disbelief that our border guards still don't have weapons...of course when they all took off last week when they heard that an armed robber was en route to Canada it held up traffic for hours and made us look ridiculous.
Hmmm.
Well as a foster parent of a young man who brought a pellet gun to school and shot someone and used it in a hold up and did not go to jail i have to wonder whether i need to get a new woodshed built because the laws are doing nothing to help us. Where do we think this man will go from here. Onward and upward.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why anyone would need to keep a gun in their home. And I certainly don't understand why people should have the right to own any guns.
ReplyDeleteI agree with cherrypie - recyle them... all of them.
don't worry about the kids, folks! we're gonna teach them all they need to know in school.
ReplyDeleteeffective weapons indeed. and the groundbreaking work is beginning in texas, no less.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2580664
"Texas School District Learning to Fight Back Against School Gunmen"
Australia Foreva!
ReplyDeleteWell aidan it is quite hard to get a handgun here but I can march down to several chain stores and get a Marlin 454 magnum which will put a bullet through an engine block...and all I have to do is lie about my desire to burn down the world and stick it to the man.
Actually there is a lot of paperwork...I had a neighbour once who pulled his handgun out and threatened to shoot my Cocker Spaniel...the cops wouldn't even come because they were too busy..they told me to try and get along with my neighbour...see now IF I had a gun that night I could have resolved this on my own.
HEY HODEDOO!
Well as you know better than anyone there are no laws governing any person in Canada if you are under the age of 18.
Decades of molly coddling social engineering and internal tinkering in the legal system has evolved into a 'godsend' for the defense lawyers... who realised that HEY we can bill more hours if we are not allowed to punish criminal behavior in youths and they can go out and repeat offences eveyday..WOOHOO!..wayward 'yoots' will eventually progress in their criminal activity and become solid lifetime clients!!!
It is a brilliant plan...
guaranteed income plan for defense lawyers...
I don't know how everyone else can't seem to see that?
reyspoutine,
ReplyDeleteI hate to agree with them but if I was a teacher I wouldn't stand there with my thumb up my ass and wait for some psychotic little prick to pick off my students at his leisure.
It is all window dressing anyway because I am sure that the majority of teachers in Texas are carrying handguns anyway.
Schools need armed guards at the entrances.
One thing seems obvious to me, if would be nutjobs knew that the teachers were in fact armed they would never risk attacking a school because when all is said and done those little assholes are all f*cking COWARDS...why do you think they are attacking schools and not army barracks or police stations?
well- one of the easiest things to do in my country is get your hands on an illegal gun... i dunno if it'll ever get better... its very scary!
ReplyDeleteangel,
ReplyDeleteI know..South Africa is unfortunately in the top 3 murder/per capita countries. I have seen a couple of documentaries on how dangerous Jo'burg is at night.
There is a gal from SA who works with my wife and she has told us how scary certain parts of your beautiful country can be...what a shame.
There is a lot of Karma to work out there..a lot of history to sort out.
Hear ye, hear ye! People with guns kill people... brilliant I tell you!
ReplyDeleteWhat should we do with guns? Shoot them into oblivion I tell you! K-POW 'em outta the way!
And hey, where are you? The reality TV has started... *hint, hint*
So many great reminders packed in here. Thanks Homo Escapeons. Hope you're well.
ReplyDeleteI walk down the isle at the dollar store in town and one wall is filled with toy guns. What are we teaching our children?!! Awareness should start at home and surprisingly at a very young age. As parents we're in charge of what our children watch on television and movies, who our children play with and with what they play with. My children are not allowed to play with toy guns. It shouldn't be fun to pretend to end someone's life. There is so much awareness here about Aids and Smoking and Drinking and Driving etc. How often do you see a banner about guns? Yes we have better gun laws than the U.S. but It wouldn't be very hard for me to buy a gun illegally.
ReplyDeleteReality is, there are children as young as 7 and 8 in different militias around the world. Many have to fight or be murdered or maimed or their families murdered or maimed. They drug them up and brand them and send them fighting. They certainly don't look like they're having fun. In 15 years these children will be angry men, they'll be terrorists. Can you blame them for being pissed off. I certainly can't. Abandoned and abused and angry, the cycle continues.
Well, touchy subject here.
ReplyDeleteI personally hate guns...horrified of them (and wire clothes hangers)...but I believe that if a person wants to kill, they are going to do it with or without a gun. But then again, if you take away guns, you prevent murders by cowardly people who see guns as the endall/beall.
I don't know...I am all for stricter gun regulations...I wouldn't mind one bit if they got rid of guns for civilians all together. But that would never pass over here in the South...too many hunters...they'd have a stroke if they couldn't have a rifle.
I personally think that small arms are totally inadequate. I mean, why go stalking deer in the woods with a pathetic little assault rifle with a measley thirty round clip when you could call in a B-52 and carpet bomb the forest, nailing whole herds of those little bastards at once? If some dickweed pulls a nine on me demanding my car, I should be able to press a button on my wrist, taking out him and the whole city block! I mean, it works in Iraq! And with GPS and all these star war satellites orbiting overhead, I should be able to point my wand at someone annoying me and vaporize his/her sorry ass with one of those high power lasers we all know are hovering up there unused.
ReplyDeleteProvide someone with a means of protection and they will find something to be protected from, guaranteed!
By the way, are you looking at me? I SAID, are you LOOKING AT ME?!
miz bohemia,
ReplyDeleteHA! Now I must admit that I never thought of that one!
Sorry for getting behind on my miz B fix...I loved your sassy YouTube debut...I can hardly wait for a full bohemian rant full of your You Go Girl let's get right to the heart of the matter attitude.
Look out world!
Don!,
Welcome back I had hoped that you would drop by and lay down some gentle words of wisdom to balance my bull in the china shopisms.
nekked,
HA!
'SUP!
You are so right my friend those crazy rappers gotta keep that schtreet cred real know what I'm sayin'.
christine!
Hey I finally found a topic that you feel strongly about. I know how hard it is to keep little minds from exploring the shoot em up world..nearly impossible unless you live in a bubble.
Imagine life a couple hundred years ago when people brought their children to public executions and kids were surrounded by guns in their everyday lives. That wasn't that long ago...it is amazing that our species made it this far.
awaiting,
If I was a farmer I would have a rifle to protect my livestock but I have never been interested in hunting..especially those canned hunts in places like Texas where they have transplanted all of those animals from Africa. That is so pathetic.
THE Michael,
Right you are again! If people find someone to protect themselves from they will use extreme force. Where is that gated community..somewhere in Texas I think. They have a huge billboard outside the front entrance that offers a warning to potential burglars.
Apparently if the the owner of the house that you are robbing SHOOTS you while you are OUTSIDE of the house the owner collects $1000...
but if he or she shoots you when you are INSIDE the house he gets $5000! Hmmmm.
i'm having mixed reactions to this since i agree that it's people who hold the choice to fire a gun. but one can't ban guns unless an entire mindset is changed, and that takes much more effort.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. Guns don't protect...they kill.
ReplyDeleteKeshi.
The USA prides itself on its influence. How influential would it be if they stopped making and selling them?
ReplyDelete18 year old boy goes into a bar in the US and asks for a beer. "Too young, son" says the barman. Boy goes next door to the gun shop and legally buys a handgun. He goes back into the bar, points the gun at the barman. "Now give me a beer."
I went to a lyrics site to check on XTC's "Melt the Guns". The Google ads were showing ads for toy guns and pellet guns.
man...had this gun post a few posts away in me blog. It was sad.
ReplyDeleteParanoid and crazy people exerting weakness and fear over unsuspecting people.
illyria,
ReplyDeleteI realise that this genie is never going back in the bottle..unless our new alien insect overlords invade and decree it so..and I for one salute them.
kesh,
Aidan told us how strict gun laws are downunda...very simiar to the Great White North...but we have the Gun Crazy Nation right next door and it is impossible to elude the terrible effects of having such a huge supply of guns available to criminals.
richard,
I am a huge XTC fan.
The USA's wild west mentality is here to stay..I have no idea how to procure legislative change when lobbyists have such an incredible advantage.
ghosty,
The temptation for psychopaths to display their power over the life of other mere mortals is very scary. On a level playing field most of these nutjobs would not dare take on another human being because they are cowards.