Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Disturbing Facts About Gun Violence In America

While the NRA and its prostitute like apologists in the Republican Party continue to spew disingenuous lies and disinformation to blow a smoke screen to obscure the huge societal problem that firearms comprise, others are endeavoring to bring forth the truth.  One truth teller is Business Insider which shares these frightening statistics:


31 Mass shootings in the U.S. since Columbine in 1999.

70  People killed in mass shootings this year in the U.S. (not including the shooters who killed themselves). Seventy-two more people were injured.

19.5/1 Ratio of people killed by guns in the U.S. compared to other developed countries in the OECD. For 15-to-20-year-olds, firearm homicide rates in the U.S. are 42.7 times higher than in other OECD countries, according to a 2011 UCLA School of Public Health study.

80 Percent of all firearm deaths that occurred in the U.S., among the 23 developed countries looked at in the UCLA study. Eighty-seven percent of all children ages 0 to 14 killed by guns in these countries are U.S. children.

47,500 Murders from firearms in the U.S. between the years 2001-2005 alone – and nearly 8 in 10 of these murders involved a handgun, according to the FBI.

300 million The approximate number of firearms owned by civilians in the U.S. as of 2010, according to the book Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review. Some 47 percent of adults report having a gun in their home, according to an October 2011 Gallup survey.

2,000 – 5,200 Gun shows that take place in the U.S. each year.

99  The number of laws the NRA has pushed through in the past four years making guns easier to own, carry in public, and harder for the government to track. Eight states currently allow firearms in bars.
These are very disturbing statistics.  The question is whether or not the politicians in Washington will have the spine to do something to stop the madness.
 

No comments: