Where Does Death Come From?

Illegal alien driver doesn't kill veterinarian

Nope, just your garden variety impaired real estate agent, blowing through an intersection after the proverbial two glasses of wine.

No word on whether her real estate license had expired or whether stricter identification of realtors who drink could've prevented the tragedy.

*****

A man's guns save his life

I know the Mike and Jane who appeared in Nick Coleman's column about a Lowry Hill home invasion. I'd heard the story from a mutual friend.

Three masked hoodlums surprised Mike in the house. They took some electronics, jewelry, a Persian rug and eventually a car, but what they really wanted was cash. Mike couldn't oblige, and the robbers were getting insistent.

But he had something they might value. Guns.

Mike took a chance the guns would save his life, and maybe they did, although not in the conventional way. The invaders took the guns he handed over, loaded them and threatened him, but let him live.

The castle defender fantasy, of course, is an armed and prepared homeowner defeating such an invasion with extreme prejudice — as family lore said my granny once did.

But in reality, we are not so eternally vigilant. Like Mike, we play piano or crank up the tunes. We hunker over blog posts. We take care with trigger locks. We come home with our arms full of groceries. We sleep.

We live our lives.

The reality is that about 60 percent of gun deaths are suicides or accidents. At least half Nearly half of suicides murders involve non-strangers, and guns were involved in more than half the deaths of those who knew their killer.

In other words, if you die by gun shot, it's not likely to happen at the hands of three young men from Flint. And the gun may well be yours, but only if you have one.

My father had one.

UPDATE: In my original post, I miscopied a link to long-term FBI data on murder by relationship. The pie chart here comes from the FBI, showing 2004  numbers. A detailed table of 2006 data is here.

My "at least half" was an overstatement; according to the 2004 chart, it was 43%. I apologize for mashing together different categories in a confusing fashion. But even if you only consider the 13% of murders involving family members, that means at least 2/3rds of gun deaths were from  a gun in the family.

But the point is still correct. You are more likely to die from a gun that belongs to you or someone you know than to die at the hands of a stranger.

That does not mean people are wrong to have guns for self-defense. I'm simply stating that owning guns doesn't necessarily make you safer from gun violence.

Comments

[MNObserver]

How can only half of suicides involve non-strangers? [Insert MPD joke here]

[Ollie Ox]

And the unlicensed driver who hit the woman in the Cities? An American. He had been stopped multiple times for driving without a license.

Can we have more traffic cops, please?

[Hal Davis]

==if you die by gun shot, it's not likely to happen at the hands of three young men from Flint. ==

I thought this trio was from Gary, Ind. Perhaps I read too inattentively. No reason given, though, as to why they were casing that neighborhood.

[mberg]

"guns were involved in more than half the deaths of those who knew their killer"

You got that from that New England Journal article from 1993, didn't you?

It's true, in the sense that drug dealers and abusive spouses "know" their victims.

The real-world stats on home and self-defense are a lot less depressing.

But I bet you knew I was not only gonna say that, but respond with a post on Monday - right?

[Charlie Quimby]

MNO, I stand by my statement, but not my proofing. "At least half" is technically true, but "100%" would be better. I meant to type "at least half of murders." So much for posting on the way out of town.

Hal, Yes, the guys in Coleman's piece were from Gary. I was using their "scary out-of-townness" metaphorically but still should have placed them in the correct town.

Mitch, yes, I knew you'd respond, but I thought you'd consider what I wrote, too. Perhaps there's some confusion because I mistakenly copied the FBI data I used for suicides to the link on relationships in murders. I will update the link with the data I used, also from the FBI.

[dailytri]

I don't own a gun and have never been threatened by someone with a gun. Still, I'm not sure I'd have the cahones to tell home invaders that they were welcome to my weapons cache (if I had one) if they'd just take it and leave. Sounds risky to me.