Because the 2nd Amendment and gun violence are among the most hotly debated topics in America, let’s look today at some real data surrounding firearms and answer the question of how many people die from guns in the U.S. each year?

The surprising answer is not as many as you might think. According to the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System, in 2014 there were 10,945 homicides by firearms. In other words, with a total death rate of 2,626,418, less than 1/2 of 1% of all deaths in the U.S. are caused by guns… there’s a lot of other ways to die than being shot.

And frankly using the CDC’s data is being generous to gun control advocates. Instead we should be comparing deaths to the firearm data provided by the agency which collects criminal (i.e. homicide) data, the F.B.I.; they’re widely held to have the most accurate data of that type.

In their report, Crime In The United States 2014, the F.B.I. reports just 8,124 murders by firearm, almost 3,000 fewer than the CDC’s. More specifically, those assault-styled rifles everyone is frantic and enraged about? They caused a whopping 248 deaths in 2014, and that’s ALL types of rifles, so really only a fraction of those were even “assault-styled” rifles. How many people die from firearms?

Barely over 3/10 of 1% of all deaths are caused by a firearm.

It’s amazing when you see the numbers for yourself rather than being “told” what to think by the media. Here’s the FBI’s data sheet.

Source: FBI’s Crime In The United States 2014

Also, look at the data above and see why it’s to Obama and Clinton’s dismay that…

the number of deaths by guns in the U.S. have been dropping at “exactly” the time when more and more Americans are buying and carrying firearms… by the millions!

Imagine that, if you can. But to hear progressives tell it, ‘Armageddon is upon us, ban them guns!’ Yes, we have a lot of firearms in this country. In fact, the number of guns in America is over 300 million privately owned firearms. Yet our murder rate per capita is actually pretty low, as you’ll see later. Let’s keep digging into this question of ‘how many people die from guns’.

Number of People Killed By Guns

As already mentioned, according to the FBI it’s just over .03% of all deaths that are caused by murder using a firearm. But when we’re talking millions of deaths each year, that seems awfully small. So what is the number one killer in America and what is the most common way to die?

Deaths By Cause

Here’s a look at the top 15 causes of death (and their number) according to the CDC:

1. Diseases of heart – 614,348
2. Malignant neoplasms – 591,699
3. Chronic lower respiratory diseases – 147,101
4. Accidents (unintentional injuries) – 136,053
5. Cerebrovascular diseases – 133,103
6. Alzheimer’s disease – 93,541
7. Diabetes mellitus – 76,488
8. Influenza and pneumonia – 55,227
9. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis – 48,146
10. Intentional self-harm (suicide) – 42,773
11. Septicemia – 38,940
12. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis – 38,170
13. Essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease – 30,221
14. Parkinson’s disease – 26,150
15. Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids – 18,792

Whoa, that is a whole lot of room to reduce death if we’re really concerned about preventing death in America as the power-hungry progressives “claim”. So we see first that the most likely way to die, the number one killer in America, is Heart Disease. Not surprisingly.

Oh, what’s that? Suicides come in at the 10th leading cause of death. Keep that in mind, we’ll address it in a few moments.

What other ways are there to die in America, other than guns and being murdered by firearms? Let’s look at some of those numbers.

Keep in mind that any one classification above could contain multiple sub-classifications. For example, Accidents includes falling and drowning and much more. So looking at them individually below also provides a greater comparison specifically to gun deaths.

I don’t count suicide among firearm deaths because frankly our suicide rate in the U.S. is below many other comparable western nations who do not have access to firearms… someone bent on suicide has a right to and will find a way to complete their goal.

As you can see in the chart below, countries like Austria, France, Finland, Belgium and Japan, all of which have VERY strict gun control laws, have a higher rate of suicide than we do. So it is completely unfair and uninformed to include suicides when discussing gun control, because we know conclusively that people bent on taking their own lives will do so, and by natural law have that right.

Well more than 60% of ALL firearm deaths are suicide. Period. Drop the mic!

So when you hear a progressive talking about “30+ thousand firearm deaths” blah, blah, blah… you can 100% rest assured that you, unlike them, are truly informed and know the facts. It’s not ‘how many people die from guns’ but rather it should be how many homicides are the result of firearms, and that’s what I hope to shed some light on with this article.

Deaths By Cause Other Than Guns

To keep it at the top of your mind, there were 8,124 murders by firearm, of which only 248 were rifles; even a smaller portion of those were assault-styled rifles.

Accidental Poisoning & Exposure to Noxious Substances – 42,032 Deaths – This is surprising, actually. We could easily save an additional 8,124 lives per year (the number of murders by firearm) with enhanced education and chemical product instruction, yet some people feel compelled to attack the Constitution. Barely 1/2 of 1% of the number of poisonings equaled the total number of rifle-related deaths… woo hoo, we have to get on top of those outlandish death tolls at the hands of firearms.

Transportation Deaths – 37,939 Deaths– You’re more than 4 times as likely to be killed in a motor vehicle crash than by a firearm. Do you get squeamish every time you leave the house?

Falls – 31,959 Deaths – You’re still almost 4 times as likely to die from falling off your roof or down your stairs as you are from any type of gun. I’ll never walk down the stairs again.

Drowning – 3,406 Deaths – That’s over 13 times the number of deaths caused by rifles. You’re 13 times more likely to die in your pool or bathtub than by a rifle? Dry shower anyone?

Boating Deaths – 610 Deaths – In 2014, the Coast Guard counted 4,064 accidents that involved 610 deaths, 2,678 injuries and approximately $39 million dollars of damage to property as a result of recreational boating accidents. And we don’t even have a Constitutional right to boating. So you’re over 3 times as likely to die while boating than by a scary assault rifle. To take this further as it relates to preventing unnecessary deaths, the Coast Guards reports that “Of those drowning victims with reported life jacket usage, 84% were not wearing a life jacket.” So we could’ve saved twice the number of lives that are taken by rifles, 496, by just requiring and enforcing the use of life jackets while on the water. Amazing. Let’s attack the Constitution, by all means.

Choking – 480 Deaths – Twice the number of people killed by rifles, died by choking. Are you afraid of that steak now? Better keep an eye on the shifty filet mignon!

Burning / Fire Deaths – 3,196 Deaths – Another area where education and safety training could significantly save lives, as these deaths are nearing half of the number of firearm murders per year in our country.

Suffocation – 18,646 Deaths – Over twice the number of people killed by guns died as a result of suffocation in America. Suffocation is a greater killer than any gun in the United States? By two fold? Wow. I may not sleep tonight.

Pedestrians Killed – 6,258 Deaths – This number surprised even me, but only further highlights how ridiculous the firearm threat is being blown out of proportion in America. Almost as many people died while walking or running as died from a stinking gun.

Cut / Pierced – 2,609 Deaths – You have nearly a 10 times greater likelihood of being killed by a knife as you do a rifle… come on man, really? We’re still having this conversation?

More Likely To Die From These Than A Rifle

Since we know that in 2014 the number of people killed by all types of rifles is 248 ( that 248 includes hunting rifles, target practice and squirrel rifles, etc…. which means very, very few were even the “assault-styled” kind of rifle that leftist dummies love to attack), we can look at it like this for clarity.

The percentage of deaths from all types of rifles in 2014 was… .009%

For the mathy, need-proof kind of people, that percentage is extrapolated from the total 2014 deaths (2,624,418) and the number of rifle related homicides (248). Guns are not the most common way to die in America, not even close, and not even close to close.

So with that in mind, what other ways are you more likely to die from than being shot by one of those scary assault-style-looking rifles (but not really functionally an assault rifle, anymore than your child’s phaser gun is really a phaser gun) or any other kind of rifle known to man? How many people died from guns compared to these types of deaths?

Bicycling – 902 Deaths – Now, when was the last time you stopped and thought to yourself, hey, let’s disassemble the Constitution because I’m afraid of riding my bicycle? I mean, you’re over 3 times as likely to die on your bicycle as you are being shot by a rifle in America.

Walking – 6,258 Deaths – As mentioned previously, the total number of people killed by any type of rifle in America equals a tiny 3.96% of the total number of people killed while walking or running. Now I know for a fact you didn’t shutter yourself inside your home yesterday with fear of taking a little walk because you might be killed. Now how much more silly is this gun-grab when only 3.96% as many people are killed by rifles as being a pedestrian?

Machinery Related – 602 Deaths – You’re almost 3 times as likely to die from your lawn mower rolling over you or your tiller going berserk on your head than you are being shot by a rifle. I knew I hated mowing the lawn for a reason!

House Fires – 2,400 Deaths – Only 10% of this number died as a result of a rifle in the entire nation in 2014.

Adverse Effects Of Medical Care – 2,156 Deaths –  Rifles killed only 11.5% the number of people that “life-saving” medical care did in 2014.

Environmental Exposure (Heat, Cold, Water, etc…) – 1,625 Deaths – Only 15% as many died from those terrible rifles that progressives can’t wait to confiscate.

Riding In Someone Else’s Car – 8,098 Deaths – Let’s take a deeper look at this little jewel of information. Only 3% of that number were killed by ALL types of rifles.

Almost exactly as many people died from just riding in some ones car, as died from ALL firearm deaths in the country?!

Holy crap, are you serious, and so we’re going to fundamentally change our nation, the greatest on the planet, for this? We’re going to risk civil war for this? We’re going to give up our right to self-defense for this? Seriously, fellow Americans? A firearm isn’t the most likely way to die in the U.S., and it’s not even close or on the same map.

Yet power-grabbing politicians want to disarm the nation and start whittling away at the Bill of Rights, your rights (you think about it and come to your own conclusion on why).

Why Do People Have Such A Need For Self Defense?

In 2008, according to the Bureau of Justice, females age 12 or older experienced about 552,000 nonfatal violent victimizations (rape/sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated or simple assault). Imagine your mother or sister or daughter being violently and horrendously raped and abused… should she not have the right to defend herself? Can you imagine how many girls and women 552,000 equals?

Imagine every man, woman and child in Albuquerque or Tuscon being raped, sexually assaulted or violently robbed in 1 year… is your stomach turning yet? It should be, because that’s how many innocent WOMEN are victims of violent, non-fatal crimes EVERY YEAR in America.

The government’s report, Firearm Violence, 1993-2011, by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (Page 12) and published in May 2013, concludes that between 2007 – 2011…

victims of violent crime successfully defended themselves 235,700 times with guns, either by discharging the firearm or threatening to.

If your mom or wife or daughter or sister was one of those 1/2 million + being assaulted and having her most personal self being horrendously violated, would you really not agree that she ought to have the right to stop the rapist? To defend herself? If you believe that then you’ve gone completely mad with the disease of progressivism?

In an in-depth 1997 report Violence and Victims, Volume 12, Number 4, under the heading “Estimating intruder-related firearm retrievals in U.S. households“, it was estimated that every year almost 1/2 million Americans used a firearm to deter a home invasion (498,000 times)… and that in the 1990’s, imagine how much larger that number is today.

So guns saved over over 1/4 million victims of violent crime in this data and guns provided another 1/2 million defensive uses in home invasions (way back in the 1990’s), and of course many other instances of self-defense thanks to an armed citizen… and progressives want to disarm us because their power hungry, dicator-wanna-be’s say so? It must feel awkward to be a progressive in the face of more and more emerging evidence of just how stupid they really are.

So take the crime you see reported on the news, and imagine it ALSO including the crimes, the rapes and robberies and invasions that were “prevented” or stopped because of a firearm, and then you begin to see a different reality than the one being fed to you day in and day out by the liberal media. Take the guns away = exponentially increasing gun violence, just like the availability of drugs on every corner of America, even yours.

John Locke (1632-1704) – A great American and a founding father who was instrumental in forming the checks and balances of our nation, wrote that the right to self-defense is the very first and most important law of nature. Not law of man or government, of nature. It’s not negotiable anymore than a Gazelle has a right to defend itself with horns.

If you don’t believe that you or someone you like or love has the right to defend themselves then you have been beaten down so far that you don’t even resemble a free-thinking, rebellious American.

It’s not white rednecks or hunters or whoever, that have a right or need to own a gun. It’s black men and women, Hispanics, Asians, Europeans, city dwellers, single moms and dads, vulnerable students in strange cities, business owners, the elderly or defenseless, etc… EVERY American has a right to own a firearm, to defend themselves. Yet the progressives use race or any other tool to cause divide, even resorting to outright lies (See this article on Katie Couric’s lies if you don’t believe me).

Now watch what Zo, Shawn, Eli and K.Martin of 20 lb Sledge have to say about liberals using race and lies to manipulate America and to purposely create racial divide.

As a former law enforcement officer I’m suggesting that you take into account the information above, and couple it with the crime and danger in the U.S. as shown in the F.B.I.’s Crime Clock below (2014 is the latest complete data year as of writing), and then understand and have the backbone to uphold the 2nd Amendment… you (and your friends and family) have a right to defend yourself, period. Do guns save lives? See this article and find out.

How Many People Die From Guns – The Myth

People have to be good consumers and research things for themselves before they make buying decisions, we all know it and most of us do it. But when it comes to something as vital and important and contentious as gun ownership, millions of people are so included to just watch MSNBC and believe any and every thing they say, without checking or verifying that information.

Well, here’s an inside look at the real data to make it more clear and give you something to think about as you reconsider your belief in the progressive nonsense plaguing the nation. How many people die from guns in America versus other nations? We’re number 1 with a bullet…

If you’re still wondering how we can save many more lives than all of this fighting over firearms ever could, take a few minutes to watch Dr. Greger’s amazing video on how our food is killing us. It has nothing to do with guns and everything to do with actually saving lives, even our own. If saving lives is, truly, our goal with this whole gun control debate.

It’s not voodoo, its common sense really.

If you want to save lives in America, Like and Share this post.

You’re now a well-informed citizen and know how many people die from guns and how many more can be saved by simple common sense actions by our government and ourselves. Enjoy this video by Dr. Greger, I think you’ll find it eye-opening. Note: I’ve been asked and yes, adding this video by Dr. Greger is sort of tongue-in-cheek, but it does point out how many lives we can really, truly save if we only make health awareness a real thing and not an election-year campaign slogan, and quit propagating the lie that so many people die from guns.

Sources:
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/expanded-homicide-data/expanded_homicide_data_table_8_murder_victims_by_weapon_2010-2014.xls
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_05.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_04.pdf
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvv.pdf
http://www.nsc.org/learn/safety-knowledge/Pages/safety-at-home-choking.aspx
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal_injury_reports.html
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fv9311.pdf