In the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that struck down Chicago's 28-year handgun ban, a new gun ordinance took effect Monday that allows Chicagoans to keep guns in their homes. But will having a handgun at home really make families safer?
The gun lobby is quick to contend that homeowners need guns for self-defense and that where there are more guns there is less crime.
Lost in the legal debate, self-defense arguments and widely-held assumptions, however, are the facts about the risks of keeping guns in the home.
The City of Chicago's new handgun ordinance does its best to address these risks by requiring residents who choose to keep guns at home to implement important safety precautions, especially in homes with children. But expectations for keeping handguns in lock boxes and reporting of lost or stolen guns can only reduce the risks, not eliminate them.
In fact, when 34 experts in injury prevention were asked to rank home health hazards for children, access to firearms in the home was rated as the most significant. Moreover, according to a study published in the Journal of Trauma, guns in the home are eleven times more likely to be used in attempted or completed suicides than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.
Access to guns makes a huge, and tragic, difference when a young person attempts suicide. A study of firearm suicides among youths found that 82 percent used a firearm belonging to a family member, usually a parent. Of the 177 suicide deaths in Chicago in 2007, according to the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System, 46 were committed with a handgun. As more people choose to keep handguns at home, that number is likely to rise.
Parents who believe that they can keep their guns away from their children are often just plain wrong. In a recent survey, thirty-nine percent of parents who reported that their children did not know the storage location of household guns and 22 percent of parents who reported that their children had never handled a household gun were contradicted by their children's reports. The results were the same even when parents kept guns locked up and discussed gun safety with their children.
Children and adolescents are not the only family members at risk when guns are present in the home. Women can also find themselves in jeopardy, especially in cases of domestic abuse. The Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates that roughly 300,000 women and children experience violence in their homes each year in Illinois. According to one study, abused women are five times more likely to be killed by their abuser if the abuser owns a firearm.
Despite all of this, it may still be easy for some families to believe that more guns equal less crime. In reality, areas with more guns have more burglaries, presumably because guns, like jewelry, cameras, or laptops, are good to steal. It is estimated that almost half a million guns are stolen every year, many of which are subsequently used in crime.
As Dr. David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health points out, "where there are more guns, there is more death - more homicide, more suicide, and more firearm accidents."
Beyond the numbers, the statistics, the studies - and even the facts - lay the tragic, true stories: the 8-year-old girl shot by her 13-year-old brother as they played with guns in the basement of their home; the 16-year-old who committed suicide with his father's gun; the mother of four who was shot and killed by her husband.
We all want to feel safe in our own homes. While a handgun may provide that sense of comfort, it holds more potential for tragedy than security.
Ellen S. Alberding is president of the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation.
So it would appear that your 34 hand-picked anti-gun "experts" were looking in the wrong place.
Please.
~"this risk was essentially entirely attributable to being shot by a family member or intimate acquaintance with a handgun which was kept loaded and UNLOCKED in the house." (emphasis added)
In other words, people are victims of their own stupidity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Kellermann
Discuss.
How about Belgium, Switzerland, France, Poland, Austria, Hong Kong, Finland, Hungary? All have suicide rates much lower than the U.S., but much stricter gun laws.
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/15/world/in-japan-mired-in-recession-suicides-soar.html?sec=health&spon=&scp=29&sq=suicide%20japan&st=cse&pagewanted=2
So I doubt that a significant number of suicides in Japan are carried out through Seppuku.
Cutting and pasting exerpts goes somewhat beyond your usual lack of imagination.
So the "eleven times more likely" statistic, even if true, is totally meaningless.
I would also caution you against making presumptions when it come to correlations between gun ownership and crime. In your example people might be owning more guns due to the crime. It is also not clear whtether you are talking about legally owned or illicitly obtained firearms.
And one more point, burglars will often leave the guns because in IL at least you get in A LOT more trouble for being caught stealing guns as opposed to a television set. My two friends that have been burgled both had long guns in a closet that were left behind. In the most recent case my friend remarked at all the crap that was stolen but his $3k of firearms was left behind. The cop wasn't surprised at all for the afore mentioned reason.
I was raised in a house with pistols, rifles, and shotguns. I knew how to get to all of them and ammunition for all of them. They were in safes, one being a key lock safe and the other being a combination safe. I figured out how to get into both; so you are absolutely right when you say kids will get access to them one way or another. That was not a problem though as I had been properly educated about guns, gun safety, and gun responsibility from an early age. If parents are just locking their guns up without instilling a very adult level of responsibility and respect in their kids, well, that is just piss poor parenting.
Can I qualify?
Well that is what I keep getting told ...
Remember, Thomas Jefferson said the American Citizen shall never be debarred the use of their guns.
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." -- Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-188
"In the Second Amendment, it is declared....that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could, by any rule of construction, be conceived to give the Congress a power to disarm the people. A flagitious [flagrantly wic.ked] attempt could only be made under some general pretense by a State Legislature. But if, in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either the [the State or Federal Government] should attempt it, this Amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both." -- William Rawle 1825 View of the Constitution
The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them. -- Zacharia Johnson
I follow after the founder'd beliefs on the 2nd Amendment, not Mayor Daley...
A lot fewer than that. There were less than 120 in 2007.
I'd rather keep people free to decide that for themselves.
"In fact, when 34 experts in injury prevention were asked to rank home health hazards for children, access to firearms in the home was rated as the most significant."
There ARE homes without children, so this is no basis for a blanket ban.
"Of the 177 suicide deaths in Chicago in 2007, according to the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System, 46 were committed with a handgun. As more people choose to keep handguns at home, that number is likely to rise."
So the fear is that hanging and drug overdoses will fall out of favor with the 75% who take their lives without a gun?
"In reality, areas with more guns have more burglaries, presumably because guns, like jewelry, cameras, or laptops, are good to steal."
Presumably?! That's the argument for suspending individual rights? A presumption?
"According to one study, abused women are five times more likely to be killed by their abuser if the abuser owns a firearm."
Citing one study is as dubious as the word "presumably", and it still doesn't validate treating the law abiding the same as criminals.
If a man has no kids or history of violence or depression, can he have his gun? Can a battered woman being stalked by an ex have her gun?
Forgive me if I'm a bit suspicious of these "experts" you speak of. The Joyce Foundation does not do any "research" unless the outcome is predetermined.
Hoplophobia, n. Irrational, morbid fear of guns (c. 1966, coined by Col. Jeff Cooper, from the Greek hoplites, weapon; see his book Principles of Personal Defense). May cause sweating, faintness, discomfort, rapid pulse, nausea, sleeplessness, nondescript fears, more, at mere thought of guns. Presence of working firearms may cause panic attack. Hoplophobe, hoplophobic.
Hoplophobes are common and should never be involved in setting gun policies. Point out hoplophobic behavior when noticed, it is dangerous, sufferers deserve pity, and should seek treatment. When confronted about their condition, hoplophobes typically go into denial, a common characteristic of the affliction. Sometimes helped by training, or by coaching at a range, a process known to psychiatry as "desensitization," a useful methodology in treating many phobias.