Study Says: More guns equal more gun deaths.

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GUNS = DEATHS: New Study Shows More Guns Result in More Gun Killings

February 13, 2015
By: Dave Rogers

More guns equal less crime?

That's what the National Rifle Association and loyalists like State Sen. Mike Green who represents Bay, Tuscola and Lapeer counties, would have us believe.

Or the classic canard: the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

Not so fast, pardner.

As Michigan's Legislature considers more liberal gun laws, including a Green-sponsored bill scrapping county gun boards, a Violence Policy Center study just released has found that states with high gun ownership lead the nation in gun deaths.

So, apparently, just the opposite of what gun advocates say is true: More guns equal more gun deaths.

Is that really what we want for Michigan?

The study used 2013 data from the Centers for Disease Control and the Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

It showed Alaska, where 60.6 percent of households own guns, had a gun death rate of 19.59 per 100,000 residents.

Louisiana, in which 45.6 percent of households own guns, had a gun death rate of 19.15.

Other notable states were Alabama (57.2 percent ownership; 17.79 death rate), Mississippi (54.3 percent ownership; 17.55 death rate), and Wyoming (62.8 percent ownership; 17.51 death rate).

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Hawaii had 2.71 gun deaths per 100,000 residents and a gun ownership of 9.7 percent of all households.

Other states with similar numbers were: Massachusetts (12.8 percent ownership; 3.18 death rate), New York (18.1 percent ownership; 4.39 death rate), Connecticut (16.2 percent ownership; 4.48 death rate) and Rhode Island (13.3 percent ownership; 5.33 death rate).

Every day now it seems we read of another tragic gun death.

Latest to catch my eye was an elderly man who relatives had asked police to check on because they hadn't heard from him and couldn't contact him. Police broke into his home and the frightened old man confronted the cops with a gun. Guess what happened? Of course the scared old feller was shot to pieces. Some way to check on the welfare of an aged resident!

Patrick Kilcherman, of Bellaire, Michigan, is the founder of Concealed Carry University who says he has instructed 850,000 Americans since starting his program in 2014. Kilcherman's main contention is that most persons who carry concealed weapons are unprepared to deal with the reality of skills and mindset needed when using a gun and confronting armed criminals.

The latest news out of Lansing is that the House, prompted by Gov. Rick Snyder, is taking a long look at Sen. Green's gun bills.

Perhaps all of us, and Sen. Green, should do the same.

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