With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
"Do you realize
more police officers
are killed
during acts
of domestic violence
than anything else?"
~ President Biden Wilkes University, Pennsylvania
(September 1, 2022)
It took President Biden 30 years
to sign his Protecting
American Kids Act into law. After seven years of dialog across three Administrations, Yofiel publishes its last
biannual firearm casualties report in support of Biden's
Safer America Plan.
In the plan's annoucement, the city mayor first describes how $250M of emergency funding had already been spent
on gunshot detection, police equipment and training from its government allocation of Biden's 2021 Ermergency
Rescue Plan. The President then commits
more police and more neigborhood training via $37 billion of additional funding that specifically targets
gun violence by creating safer neigborhoods. Also
present at the announcement are the state governor, state attorney geeeral, state lieutenant governor, state senator,
district congressman, and, in celebration of the accomplishment, the taleented and combat-savvy U.S. Marine Band.
[1] Guns Killed more than WW1 + WW2
Created: July 27, 2021
Modified: Rev. 1
Excerpted 9/4/2002
Compared to other calamities with similar death rates, the single most astounding fact about
gun control could be how little the USA had previously spent on it.
For example, in January 2021 President Biden justified $1.4 trillion more federal spending on COVID
by stating COVID killed more U.S. citizens than World War 1.
Briefly thereafter, he remarked how the death toll had risen to more than
both world wars and Vietnam combined.
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
Yet since the Supreme Court's 2008 Heller decision defined limited rights
to bear arms in self-defense, firearm fatalities in the USA had already mounted to exceed all U.S. deaths in
World War 2 at the time of Biden's inauguration. Due to draqmatic increases during the Trump administration,
2023's firearm fatalities will not only exceed U.S. deaths from both
World Wars put together and Vietnam, but more than all U.S soldiers killed in action
since the beginning of the last century. The attached graqph shows only projected deaths from 2018 data.
Yet even so, Congress invests virtually nothing in reducing firearm fatalities.
Any gun-control legislation that actually passes both House and Senate faces endless legal challenges. The
President is forced into short-lived Executive Orders, virtually all of which are also disputed in the courts.
[2] 2023 Casualties could exceed 200,000
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
Almost all public data on firearms considers fatalities only. Historically, about a third of all victims die from their wounds sooner or later, and it is believed the availability
of more lethal assault-type weapons has increased the mortality rate. But the NRA has been successful in blocking
exact statistics. In prior years, the CDC's WisQars Database
reported injuries both due to accidents and to assaults with firearms. Up until the Trump Administration,
accidental injuries were flat, and assault injuries were increasing at an average of 3.5%/year (after population
growth adjustment; or 3.7% without population growth adjustment).
Because some victims take some time to die from their wounds, the specific numbers are not
known for several years. The Trump Administration stopped the CDC from further reporting on injuries
directly caused by firearms without public explanation.
At the same time, causes of firearm injuries were also deleted from CDC's WisQars database.
A similar but smaller event happened in 2004, when
the same fields for 2002 were deleted from WisQars during the Bush Administration, reportedly because the Al'Qaueda might recruit
terrorists with the data. That was before I started my own data collection. but I do have the firearm injury data
that the Trump Administration deleted.
The above graph shows a breakout of firearm injuries due to assault and accident, including
the now missing 2015 and 2016 data, and projections. Prior to the sudden surge in gun violence during the
Trump Administration, injuries were projected to exceed a hundred thousand a year in early 2024. With the recent acceleration
in firearm violence (14% in 2020 alone), total firearm casualties will easily
exeed 200,000 next year.
[3] Domestic Violence exceeds Criminals and Gangs
The FBI hasn't got to 2020 yet. For 2019, it has reported that homicides by killers known to the victim increased
to 48.9%, confirming my statistical and reasoned predictions from 2016,
drawn from concern about the continued neglect of domestic violence compared to non-felonious crime (see the FBI's
Expanded
Homicide Report). This primarily stems from John Lott's popular 1998 book 'More Guns, Less Crime,' which totally
ignores deaths from domestic violence, personal disputes, suicide, and accidents. Instead it regards all gun violence as caused by
anonymous thieves and other such miscreants.
That claim is just plain wrong.
the following chart, from FBI data, shows that
robberies by strangers accounted for a whopping 6% of all unjustified homicides. Similarly the NRA blames narcotics crime
as a major factor by deliberately choosing small regions where it is more common,
despite its even tinier contribution to the problem. And since 2017, the ratio of homicides by families and friends
to strangers has only increased steadily.
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
The NRA's hate propaganda is still provoking the problem, as shown in the
'demons at the door' ad it is still running, even since the federal lawsuits for graft against LaPierre
and his wife too
has faded into obscurity).
[4] The Heller Decision
Many citizens vehemently attack or defend the 2nd Amendment as some kind of 'blank check' to own guns.
Very few have got as far as understanding what Constitutional rights to guns actually exist now.
The 2008 Heller decision explicitly extended the 2nd Amendment to grant limited rights to arms for self-defense.
Immature debates on absolutist interpretations abound while people continue to die wrongfully.
The 2nd Amendment (2A) itself doesn't directly define rights to arms for self defense. However, the Heller decision
distinctly confirmed that right, just as the Founding Fathers intended so,
in accordance with Locke's theory of state of nature. While one might be led to believe that would result
in more interest in the rationale for the decision, it hasn't, for reasons discussed later. Here is
the Heller decision's first paragraph:
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
The Heller Decision also specifically stated that the right to bear arms
is not unlimited, in its 2nd paragraph. The 2nd paragraph is astonishingly ignored by '2A' advocates,
whereas anti-gun groups and legislators (including the House of Congress Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi)
now unilaterally endorse banning guns entirely, ignoring the Heller decision
entirely, even though the hope for such an outcome is completely inane.
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
This Supreme Court decision considers limits in exactly the order of the number of deaths each limitation
would reduce. First it mentions limitations on the rights of the mentally ill to own guns, because suicide
is the leading cause of firearm fatality. Then it mentions use of guns by felons, and the marketing of
evermore lethal weapons. CDC and FBI data confirm these priorities are still applicable in 2021,
but at the current rate of improvement, firearm fatalities will not even be flat for half a century.
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
Limitations on gun ownership by the mentally ill are dogged by privacy rights, and efforts
in that direction have made no progress at all. The Supreme Court also
has not stated how much the government should restrict gun purchase or ownership by felons, leading to
interminable reversals of opinions in expensive and largely misunderstood lawsuits.
The Rand Corporation reports that waiting periods
have caused the greatest reduction in firearm fatalities,
and that stand-your-ground laws have caused the greatest increase.
"Waiting period laws that delay the purchase of firearms by a few days reduce gun homicides by roughly 17%
....without imposing any restrictions on who can own a gun."
~ Handgun Waiting Periods Reduce Deaths,
Luca et all, Duke university, 2017.
A waiting period of a few days without any other restriction Could save save the lives of between 1 in 6, and 1 in 5.
However those who proifit from gun sales are only concerned with the impact that might have on sales. Despite
the undeniability of rather thorough research on lives lost due to lack of exercising Heller 1(b), the NRA stated
during the Trump administration that it would seek to block every single gun-control law and has done so.
It and other pro-gun groups exhibit no concern at all for the lost lives, despite their actions being in direct
contradiction of the Heller decision which they
frequently adulate as defending their position. From a rational and legal standpoint, nonetheless,
stand-your-ground laws should be further restrained, and the inadequacies of the NICS system
indicate that it should still require a waiting period.
[6] 2020: worst year ever
Created: Jan 7, 2022
Modified: Version 1
Excerpted 9/4/2002
Putting aside how many of the new victims suffered a long and painful death before leaving widows, orphans, and
others mourning their loss, let's get to the statistics. But now, numbers provide no recourse for those seeking
any dismissal of the injustice at all. The
CDC Wonder Database now reports 2020 was the most severe year of
firearm fatalities ever, with an increase of 14% over the prior year. That increase is an order of magnitude more
than during the Obama Administration, a mere four years earlier. It is also the largest annual percentage increase
since the federal governemtn started collecting national homicide data in 1929.
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
The picture on the right shows the result of a query to CDC's Wonder database.
Note, The database provides a different number for homicides than the FBI. The difference is because
doctors sometimes define deaths as 'unintentional homicides' without need of verification by the Department of Justice.
I include the difference betwween of the CDC and FBI numbers as 'lethal accidents' in my reports,
spreadsheets, and charts. Below is the projection of data for 2021 from 2001~2018 data; demonstrating
the order of magnitude increase in the last year of the Trump Administration. /p>
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
I've resigned from further work on gun control, so the data available in 2022 will no longer be shared
publicly. Here is prior
data, with numbers from the CDC and FBI highlighted in yellow. Light grey backgrounds on gun statistics after 2015 are estimates based on least-squares extrapolation.
With more gun deaths since the 2008 Heller Decision than U.S. soldiers killed in the entire 20th century, domestic violence now causes more homicides than criminals and gangs combined
