Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Gun sales at record levels, according to FBI background checks

At least the killing business is doing well:g ranges, sportsmen organizations and publishers, has offered a glimpse into the economic impact of the industry.

Firearms industry has returned robust results in the midst of recession.

A recent report by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a trade association for the firearms industry which boasts membership of more than 5,500 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen organizations and publishers, has offered a glimpse into the economic impact of the industry.
But a little reminder of what guns do for us:

  1. Of all firearm-related crime, 86 percent involved handguns.5

    Only one in six Americans own handguns.6

    Unlike manufacturers of other consumer products, the industry that makes handguns is unregulated for health and safety. 
  2. Since 1962, more than one million Americans have died in firearm homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings. Handguns were used in more than 650,000 of these fatal shootings.7

    In 1997�the most recent year available�there were 89 firearm deaths per day, or a firearm death every 16 minutes.8

    In homes with guns, a member of the household is almost three times as likely to be the victim of a homicide compared to gun-free homes.9
  3. The largest category of firearms fatality is suicide, not homicide. In 1997, 54 percent of all gun deaths were suicides, and 42 percent were homicides.16

    About six out of 10 suicides are committed with firearms.
  4. For every time a gun in the home is used in a self-defense homicide, a gun will be used in�

        1.3 unintentional deaths

        4.6 criminal homicides

        37 suicides22

    In 1997 there were 15,690 homicides.

        Of these, 8,503 were committed with handguns.

        Among handgun homicides, only 193 (2.3 percent) were classified as justifiable homicides by civilians.23

    For every time in 1997 that a civilian used a handgun to kill in self-defense, 43 people lost their lives in handgun homicides alone.
The numbers might have changed since 1997 the fundamentals haven't. Guns are not used for the good of this country but cause terrible harm.

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