Reply #207: Let's take a close look at those numbers. [View All]

[GreenStormCloud]

Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that CCWers illegally kill an average of 170 citizens per year. (In reality I remain to be convinced of that, but for this post I will not challenge that number.) There are about 5 million CCWers in the U.S. We notice that your number includes CCWers who kill by means other than shooting, such as stabbing, choking, poison, etc.

170/5,000,000 = .000034 That converts to 3.4/100K.

According to the FBI there were 14,180 murders in the U.S. in 2008. The population of the US is about 308,000,000. However 1/4 of our population is not able to murder, due to being too young, being an invalid, confined to nursing homes, etc. So we will use a base number of 230,000,000.

14,180/230,000,000 = 6.16/100K. So the general public has a murder rate that is about twice the CCW rate.

Even if we use the entire population of the U.S. as a base, (Does anybody here think that babies in their cribs can murder?)that still works out to about 4.6/100K for the entire population. By your numbers, CCWers are safer.

Thank you for helping to support our great safety record.

My wife having a gun on her that day when a mugger targeted her certainly saved her life.