Last July VPC released a study “Gun Deaths Outpace Motor Vehicle Deaths in 14 States and the District of Columbia in 2011”.
The point being made is in a final statement “America is reaping the benefits of decades of successful injury prevention strategies on its highways, but continues to pay an unacceptable, yet equally preventable, cost in lives lost every year to gun violence”. This is the third year the VPC has issued its annual report comparing gun deaths to motor vehicle deaths by state.
A couple of days ago a poster in another gun related group noticed a post here on DU, probably this one http://www.democraticunderground.com/12627735 and decided to comment. Offering the gun enthusiasts perspective, noting among other things that the graph representing the number of firearm deaths (accurately showing the number of firearm deaths) “shows raw numbers, not rates. The slow increase in gun deaths is not adjusted for population growth; rates have actually been falling!”
A couple of points.
First, the VPC study referenced in these posts is from two and a half years ago Tuesday, May 22, 2012 for the years 1999 thru 2010. The most recent one from about 5 months ago is dated July 15, 2014, and covers the years 1999 thru 2011. https://www.vpc.org/press/1407cars.htm
2nd, & more importantly, to say “rates have actually been falling” re; VPC’s graph showing Firearms Deaths increasing, is more of a distortion than the image that graph presents. The (crude) rates have been steady. There has been so little change, variation in rate, as to be considered insignificant by any known standard. Keep in mind this other posters comment is not to correct anything or point out any error in VPC’s study (there aren’t any).
The gun enthusiast concluded with some advice; “Be careful what you read, be especially careful of your logical fallacies and always check what the variables are on a graph and where the origin point is.”
In general, I’d agree with that thought.
= new reply since forum marked as read