As Firearm Sales Jump in California Injuries and Deaths Related to Guns Fall...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

In sorting it all out as the nation continues the debate on firearms, high capacity magazines and the rest, I thought the following information very pertinent and germain to the discussion.

It seems that while firearm sales have significantly increased in California (2002 - 2011) the number of gun related injuries has declined 25% during the same period.

The Sacramento Bee - Gun deaths and injuries have dropped sharply in California, even as the number of guns sold in the state has risen, according to new state data.

Dealers sold 600,000 guns in California last year, up from 350,000 in 2002, according to records of sale tallied by the California Attorney General's office.

During that same period, the number of California hospitalizations due to gun injuries declined from about 4,000 annually to 2,900, a roughly 25 percent drop, according to hospital records collected by the California Department of Public Health.

Firearm-related deaths fell from about 3,200 annually to about 2,800, an 11 percent drop, state health figures show.

Most of the drop in firearm-related injuries and deaths can be explained by a well-documented, nationwide drop in violent crime.

The number of California injuries and deaths attributed to accidental discharge of firearms also has fallen. The number of suicide deaths involving firearms has remained roughly constant.

Two caveats: State figures track gun sales, not ownership. They treat a family's first gun purchase the same as a collector's twelfth. Second, gun sales in California peaked in the early 1990s, as violent crime also peaked.

These charts show gun injuries, deaths and sales trends over the last ten years. {Continue Reading, Charts Follow}

In any reasonable discussion of firearms control these stats need to be recognized and discussed. As much as the advocates of stricter and tightened gun control laws may not wish to acknowledge these facts they are relevant and therefore need to be included in the discussion. Which is not to say we should do nothing. By the same token the nation should not over react.

Via: Memeorandum