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posted ago by magaphraust ago by magaphraust +24 / -0

One giant hole I always see in the gun debate, is leaving out how many people are saved by guns. It's always left out. If we're going to make decisions on firearms and just leave out that vital statistic, then we should also ban airbags (https://housegrail.com/airbag-statistics/):

  • Airbags killed 116 children from 1996 to 2000.
  • Airbags killed 75 adults from 1996 to 2000.

If you disagree, then you are for the deaths of those people. How many people are saved by airbags is irrelevant!


Some stats (note: not sure of the accuracy, so take with a grain of salt)

US Murder Statistics
In 2020, there were 21,570 reported cases of murder or non-negligent manslaughter in the United States.

US Murder Statistics by Weapon Used
8,029 Handguns + 2,863 firearms = 10,892 involved guns

US Violent Crime Statistics
In 2020, an estimated 1,313,105 violent crimes occurred in the United States.

Foundation for Economic Education Statistics
According to the Foundation for Economic Education, guns prevent nearly 3 million crimes a year. Approximately 400,000 potentially life-threatening violent crimes are prevented annually with the use of firearms.

Let's say just 10% of that 400k would have actually resulted in a death (although I suspect that percentage is much higher) Then that is 40,000 lives saved per year

  • Gun homicides ~ 30 per day
  • Guns saving lives (most conservative est) ~ 109 per day
  • Guns saving lives (most speculative est) ~ 1095 per day

Not to mention deterrence:
60 percent of felons surveyed admitted they didn’t commit crimes if they were aware potential victims were armed. What’s more, 40 percent of the surveyed felons reported being discouraged from committing crimes if they simply suspected potential victims were armed.

Finally, it is not likely, and certainly not clear whether those 30 gun related homicides per day would otherwise not occur with some other weapon. Not to mention that the people committing those homicides are criminals and would ignore any gun laws anyways.