Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff OTMG
It is unfortunate, but obviously there is a reason. Think of it as insurance. You have insurance on your car, you have health insurance, you have life insurance. You may have a fire extinguisher in your kitchen. You hope that you don't need any of them and never have to use them, but it sure is nice to know that it is there if you need it. Concealed firearms are the same way. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
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No. Bad analogy.
And opinions are opinions. Unlike insurance and fire extinguishers, data does not suggest that it is better to have a gun and not "need it" ("need" is relative) than to need it and not have it. Rather, the data finds that owning or having access to a gun increases likelihood of victimization among law abiding civilians and the rate of offending for certain offenses. "Having it and not needing it" does not reduce the likelihood and rate of victimization.
As for what someone said about suicide and gun access, gun access does increase the rate of lethal violence in cultures in which lethal violence is correlated (not caused) with gun access. For example, men have a higher rate of suicide than women and men have a higher rate of gun suicides than women. This gender dynamic in completed and attempted suicides is associated with a number of factors including the higher likelihood of men to have access to and therefore use guns whereas women use devices that they tend to have greater access to such as prescription drugs and razors/knives. Again, there is a correlation which means that guns make lethal violence "quicker", "easier", and more permanent.
The higher rate of suicide in Japan as compared to the United States of America has been studied in comparison with other forms of lethal violence such as homicides and vehicle deaths. Yes, Japan has this higher rate of suicide without the gun access. That is only a testament to people using whatever means necessary in the absence of "easier" means. If Japan was a culture in which gun access was more highly regarded, and they lacked proper social control mechanisms in a similar fashion as the United States of America, they would most likely have a homicide rate more comparable to the United States of America (we have the highest rate among "industrialized nations"). The suicide rate in Japan could possibly increase in line with the greater access to quicker and more lethal forms of harm if, again, guns were thrown into the equation without the proper control mechanisms. It would also shift suicide attempts to completed suicides. There is absolutely no debate that guns truly are the "quickest" and "easiest" form of harming oneself and others for those who are motivated to engage in such behaviors.
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