The CDC, or Centers for Disease Control, keep track of the “cause of death” for every known fatality in the United States. They update the numbers every once in a while and publish them on their website, where Linoge over at Walls of the City grabs them and whips up a handy chart for us lazy bastards. For the third year in a row the total number of firearm related deaths (including suicide and accidental) has increased. BUT taking into account the population the rate of firearm deaths has leveled off or even declined slightly. So while there are more deaths you’re less likely to be included in that number. Even more interesting . . .
While firearm ownership is increasing, firearms deaths are not increasing as rapidly, disproving the “more guns = more deaths” hypothesis. There’s a couple wonky things about the graph (like changes in scale and the improper location of the AWB expiration) but it’s a good stab at deciphering the numbers and disproving the “blood in the streets” argument.
Head on over to Walls of the City for more analysis.
[h/t: Frank]