Poll: is there a growing crisis involving firearm accidents?

[lawodevolution]

Based on what you know now what do you think
Please vote before reading the thread

Which do you feel is more true?

[pipoman]

1. No

[lawodevolution]

2. I made

Option one and two similar but worded differently based on what you think is more important, accident rate or fatality rate. Same with 3 and 4.

[Euromutt]

3. I went for option #4

As far I can tell, the number of non-fatal unintentional firearm injuries is has been fluctuating over the past two decades, but is in broad terms stable. Sometimes it goes up, and then it comes down again. Even so, while I don't think there is a crisis regarding unintentional shootings, it pays not to get complacent around firearms, ever.

[lawodevolution]

4. Please explain

Those who think there is a crisis and those who think there is no crisis. Why is there a crisis or why not

[shadowrider]

5. Dude, GUNZ IZ BAD, therefore, there's a crisis n/t

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

6. No...

I think with the internet and modern media outlets (capitalizing on emotional response to garner viewers) that we hear about ALOT moer of the shooting so it may seem like there is a rise... but in actuality I think gun accidents are down. I think, with most any issue, that anytime you pay more attention to that issue then the more frequent you will be likely to notice it.

Also, hard data exists on accidental firearm death rates in the US and the trend is in solid decline DESPITE the fact that population and gun proliferation has been rapidly increasing. Although... this observation isn't "my feelings" so I'm not sure if my vote was cheating.

[lawodevolution]

7. If you feel that you know

For a fact that gun accident rate is going down than you voted correctly

[russ1943]

14. So you can be wrong and vote correctly?

Unintentional (accidental) firearms gunshot victims for;
2005 16,177
2006 15,530
2007 16,311
2008 17,215* (Assuming there are zero fatalities in 2008)

You posted; ”If you feel that you know for a fact that gun accident rate is going down then you voted correctly”.
If you feel that you know …………………………(insert anything here)……………………….for a fact………………
Huh?
Feelings in general are subjective, facts are objective. Either the number and or rate of unintentional firearms gunshot victims are increasing or decreasing. If anyone feels they know for a fact that gun accidents are going down, then they are misinformed.

The numbers and rates did used to be declining, no one disputes that. However the last decrease was from 2005 to 2006. Accidental gunshot victims then stopped declining and have been increasing since then. Even if it is determined that there were no (zero) accidental gunshot fatalities in 2008, gun accidents are increasing.

Our knowledge of the best known objective FACTS in this regard are restricted in so far as we can only know what is available and that information is not available until quite some time after the data is gathered, disseminated, correlated and published by reputable sources. eg: 2008 accidental gunshot fatalities aren't published on WISQARS yet.

[lawodevolution]

16. That's not adjusted for population growth

And why do you just show 4 years of data. Look at the vote count. It looks like 90% of the people here can see that rates of gun accidents go up and down and overall are on a down trend. Our side won this debate already judging by the vote.

We also don't have the data for 2009 and 2010 there

Anyway, you have the right to think we have a crisis based on your very tiny sample of data you decided to post, what would you do to reduce gun accident rate?

[lawodevolution]

8. Interesting results

I'm going to wait a little before commenting on the results

[Glassunion]

9. According to the news there is a tsunami of blood from firearm accidents.

I saw like one story in the past week, so that means that there is a crisis. Panic! Everybody panic!

[jazzhound]

10. self-delete NT

[SteveM]

11. I believe both "accident" and "deaths" are down, though I voted for the former.

[lawodevolution]

12. This poll seems kind of stable now, so it looks like

People who post here understand that there is no crisis involving gun accidents at this time as fatality rates have gone down significantly. No amount of shameless use of tragic stories to push an anti gun agenda is going to work so long as we have the ability to respond. Based on the results of this poll it is obvious who has been winning the debate in these threads.

[spin]

13. While I agree, it would have interesting if this poll had lasted for a few days ...

in GD.

[lawodevolution]

15. But also

Before having posted this in GD, have at least a few weeks of posts involving anecdotes of gun accidents with a debate

[NewMoonTherian]

17. I think this data reflects...

that people educated in gun issues favor gun rights. To be honest, the majority of those on GD have a stance on the issue, and no intention of changing that stance via education. Unfortunately, no education is required to vote, protest and call our representatives, so they have just as loud a voice in the matter as we do - moreso in some cases.