According to a 7/9/08 Reuters article, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said that the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital will lead to more deaths and accidental injuries. According to Justice Antonin Scalia (who was in the 5-4 majority on the decision) citizens may prefer handguns for home defense because they “can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police.” I would agree with the New England Journal of Medicine. Based on the stats related to deaths in the U.S. from firearms, it’s more likely those citizens with easier access to guns will be pointing them at their own heads, or at the heads of other people they are mad at, than using them for self defense in their homes.
Number of firearm caused deaths in the USA, 2005
17,002 Suicides (out of 32,637 total suicides)
12,352 Homicides (out of 18,124 total homicides )
789 Accidental discharges (out of 117,809 total accidental deaths)
143 Number of private citizen justifiable homicides (out of 192 total)
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0938674920080709
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_10.pdf (Table 10)
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/offenses/expanded_information/murder_homicide.html (Table 14)
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