STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Medical Doctors (A) The number of medical doctors in the U.S. is 700,000. (B) Accidental deaths caused by Phisicians per year are 120,000. (C) Accidental deaths per Physician is 17.14%. Statistics courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Guns (A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000. (B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500. (C) The number of accidental death per gun owner is 0.001875%. Statistics courtesy of the FBI.

So statistically, medical doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners....

Remember, guns don't kill people...Doctors do!

CS, do you have a link fro these stats?

I'm having trouble finding them on teh USD HHS page

or even where to go looking for them.

Puts a little clarity into things, doesn't it?

I've owned guns for years and I haven't accidentally killed anyone... yet.

I don't think that it is the accidental deaths that people are really concerned with (at least I’m not), it is the intentional deaths. Just so you know I'm not for further gun control. Just enforce the laws that are on the books.

Steveman- Got this from another forum I read...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1447484/posts 

Thanks

You can't really compare the two, CarribeanSoul...they have nothing to do with each other. I don't think anyone is that concerned about accidental deaths caused by gun owners-because it is exceedingly rare. The concern is from non-accidental deaths casused by gun owners(homicides.)

To make your statistical analogy work, you would need to compare the incidents of Murder committed BY Doctors and the incidents of murder involving a gun.

I think that would lead to a different conclusion.

Tazzie and Buck make important points.

However, CSoul illustrates how the use of statistics is sometimes more artful rhetoric than much else. I'm with CSOUL in that gun statistics that some use to say we need more gun control border on ridiculous. Stats won't justify gun control in my book...in case anyone is reading.

BTW, I'm not NRA...I don't own a gun and don't even know how to shoot one. But I have a hard time understanding how gun control proponents think gun deaths are the fault of having too many LEGAL guns in the population. You know the rest of the argument...so I'll spare you.

Billy- Thanks for seeing that my tongue was firmly planted in my cheek when I posted this one.

I'm smarter than the average bear...

...and fatter.

As an ex-math major, I will say that statistics can be used to say anything you want them to say. After all, "there are lies, damn lies, and statistics." I think that was Mark Twain who said that.

I, however, was being 100% serious. I have never accidentally killed anyone... yet.

Liars figure and figures lie

No sir. The gun misfired. What? How was the perpetrator shot eighteen times? I reloaded and the gun just kept misfiring into his thieving dumb ass ;-}