Sharks vs Toasters... and how it relates to guns.

[Vantage]

I think it was during shark week that I heard a funny statistic. I don't remember the exact context, but somebody was trying to promote some anti-shark material on the basis of how dangerous they are. The shark defenders came out and with some number proving that more people were killed by toasters, than by sharks in the previous year.

I did a tiny bit of googling and found this,

Toasters Deadlier than Sharks

Wasn't the exact article I was thinking of, but you still get the jist.

Anyway.... I'm just curious about "Guns vs ______". What are some other "More people die from __________ than from guns" that you've heard... and can back up.

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[coop44]

Most people die from being stupid

 

[2506]

Swimming pools are deadlier than guns, for kids any way.

Don't go in the ocean, and you won't have to worry about sharks.

Most people, I think die from accidents.

 

[NuthinFancy]

Last compiled data in 2006 from the census <broken link removed>

Looks like 35K people died from firearms that year (18K by suicide). Twice as many died from diabetes.

 

[chemist]

Yeah, the problem with these stats blaming the tool is that they don't distinguish the intentional from the unintentional, or homicide from suicide.

Maybe you could make the argument that the gun is the problem in suicides, since often times if the guy can be thwarted on his first attempt he won't try again, but that's a whole different line of reasoning from the "gun = danger" meme.

Causes of death in the US are 1, heart attack, 2, stroke, 3, cancer, and 4, nosocomial infection, meaning infections that you got while you were in the hospital for something else. So hospitals are the most dangerous places in the country by that measure!

As far as accidental deaths go, guns are so far down the list from the #1, cars, that they're insignificant. The yearly death toll from accidental shootings is barely more than a week's total motor-vehicle deaths. And the saddest thing of all is that nearly half those killed in car crashes aren't even in cars - they're pedestrians and bicyclists, innocent victims if you will.

Gary Kleck's site is a great resource for these statistical arguments, and IIRC he's the one who calculated that swimming pools are so much more deadly than guns to children.

 

[Mark W.]

Way more people die from going to the doctor and having them SCREW UP (last I heard in the area of 400K in a year in the USA) then die as a result of gun fire.

 

[servingu]

The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.
- Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000. (and they cause millions more with known-to-be-fatal prescription drugs and unnecessary surgeries.)
- Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.

(Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health Human Services.)

Guns:

- The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000.
- The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
- The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is 000188.

(Statistics courtesy of F.B.I.)

Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.

Remember, "]"Guns don't kill people, doctors do."
FACT: Not everyone has a gun, but almost everyone has at least one doctor.

Please alert your friends to this alarming threat immediatley. We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!

Note: Out of concern for the public at large, the statistics on lawyers have been withheld for fear the shock would cause people to panic and seek medical attention.

 

[NuthinFancy]

Note: Out of concern for the public at large, the statistics on lawyers have been withheld for fear the shock would cause people to panic and seek medical attention.

Comedy Gold!

 

[Vantage]

Awesome

 

[Riot]

More people get stabbed to death than get shot to death.
More people get hit by a cars than get shot.

 

[chemist]

More people get stabbed to death than get shot to death.
More people get hit by a cars than get shot.

Almost - not quite. Most people who "get shot" shoot themselves. But if you're talking about shooters who shoot and kill other people, then it's around one-third of the number of drivers who kill or die behind the wheel.

 

[Riot]

Almost - not quite. Most people who "get shot" shoot themselves. But if you're talking about shooters who shoot and kill other people, then it's around one-third of the number of drivers who kill or die behind the wheel.

Where did you get those stats?

Most Likely Ways of Dying

I realize that a lot of suicides are actually labeled as "accidental". Even a friend of mine shot himself with one of my guns.

 

[Jamie6.5]

Take child deaths for example.
We constantly hear about gun laws that are written to protect children.
<broken link removed>
11 PERCENT OF U.S. CHILDHOOD DEATHS IN '87 WERE CAUSED BY GUNS | Deseret News

Backyard pools kill many many more children than guns. According to these articles, guns contributed to 11% of the deaths of children age 1-19, even though, in most cases, anyone over 18 can be considered to be an adult. (they can vote after all)
And when unintentional deaths (accidental) are considered, the percentage drops even further.

Yet drownings account for more childhood deaths than ANY OTHER cause except motor vehicle incidents, and backyard pools contribute the majority of those.
AT one time (about 2001) I read a statistic in a gun publication that mentioned the fact that backyard pools killed 7 TIMES as many kids as guns.
Yet you can walk in to any K-Mart, Sears etc and buy a pool and never fill out a form that resembles a 4473,...

You decide.

 

[chemist]

Where did you get those stats?

Most Likely Ways of Dying

I realize that a lot of suicides are actually labeled as "accidental". Even a friend of mine shot himself with one of my guns.

2010 traffic deaths 32,788 (remarkably low)
<broken link removed>

Here's a great resource for violent death reporting:
<broken link removed>
but currently it only includes 16 states.

Here's a random link I grabbed for some quoted stats:
<broken link removed>
"Guns were used in 12,632 homicides in 2007"
"Firearms were used in 17,352 suicides in 2007"
"In 2007, guns were the cause of the unintentional deaths of 613 people."