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Old January 17, 2013, 10:35 PM   #6
MLeake
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Join Date: November 15, 2007
Location: Outside KC, MO
Posts: 10,128
As I noted in other threads, the CDC figures on deaths in the home include suicides.

Since they look at deaths, and since most successful defensive uses of guns (around 90% according to Kleck) result in no shot needing to be fired, that means suicides kill more homeowners (in nearly 100% of suicide attempts by firearm) than homeowners kill intuders, in the ten per cent of cases where homeowners might actually fire.

Bear in mind, the lawful self-defender shoots to stop, as opposed to killing, and that a very high percentage of those shot by handguns survive if medical attention is prompt.

The CDC is not known for pointing such things out.

Edit: As I have also pointed out, while firearms are the preferres suicide tool of American males, a significant minority choose to hang themselves. Women are more likely to overdose on pills or slash their wrists; I read once that women seem to prefer methods that won't disfigure their faces.

So, unless we pass rope control, pill control, and razor blade control, the death in the home numbers probably will not shift much, but the methodology will shift.

Accidents resulting in injury are probably worth tracking, if kept in perspective with such things as pool and bathtub drownings, accidental poisonings, etc.
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