#2021 National Firearms Survey

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The use of ghost guns — homemade firearms that can be built from parts bought online or with 3D printers — in U.S. crimes has risen more than 1,000% since 2017, the Department of Justice said in a federal report released Wednesday. The findings are based on tracing data collected by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and present the most comprehensive data in two decades on crime and guns in the U.S.

The collected information provides intelligence into previously unknown patterns in the use of guns and crime.

While there's no data on how many ghost gun parts are sold, or how many ghost guns exist, the dramatic rise in the use of these privately-made guns in crime provides some insight into the explosive number of such guns in the hands of the American public.

Police-submitted requests to the ATF to trace ghost guns jumped from 1,629 in 2017, to 19,273 in 2021, the report said, while cautioning that this data is most likely grossly underreported.

In total, police submitted 1,922,5771 crime guns to ATF for tracing between 2017 and 2021. Chicago topped the list of cities in which most crime guns were recovered.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, Benjamin Hayes, former ATF special agent and branch manager at the ATF National Tracing Center, told CBS News.

"We continue to produce so many firearms, and they are just pouring into the public domain. The abundance of these firearms and the myriad of environments in which they reside, make it easy for someone with criminal intent to obtain a gun," he said.

Under new federal rules regulating ghost guns, implemented in August, commercial manufacturers of ghost gun assembly kits are required to include serial numbers. Sellers need to be federally licensed, run background checks before selling a homemade gun kit, and keep records of the purchases for as long as they are in business.

Vice President Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, noted that ghost guns pose "an especially grave threat to the safety of our communities" because of how easy they are to obtain and how difficult they are to trace, in remarks at the White House in April announcing the regulations.

Ghost guns are just one of the troubling indicators in which the collected information provided insights into previously unidentified patterns in the use of guns and crime.

The data also shows that, often, guns used in crimes have been bought relatively recently. During the five-year reporting period, nearly 25% of the guns traced by ATF after being recovered from crimes had been purchased within the past year, and 46% within three years or less, the report said.

It's a metric known as "time to crime" — "the length of time between the date of a firearm's last known purchase (often to the first retail purchaser or, when additional transfer information is available to the last known purchaser) to the date of its recovery by law enforcement as a crime gun," the report explains.

Richmond, Detroit, and Colombia, South Carolina, were among the cities with shorter average "time to crime" statistics in the report, while New York, Baltimore, and San Jose were among those with longer average "time to crime" statistics, indicating a common pattern, said Daniel Webster, professor and director at the Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"All states with the longest 'time to crime' have the strongest gun laws, and generally speaking, the shortest 'time to crime' have weakest gun laws," said Webster.

Most of the "crime guns" traced by ATF were found less than 10 miles from the last known purchaser's home — even though almost 60% of those guns were used by somebody else in the crime.

More than 90% of crime guns were brought by males, with the biggest age group between 21 and 25 years old, the report said.

These are notable rises in the data not seen in previous years, said Webster, correlating to the massive increase in gun sales since the start of the pandemic.

An estimated 7.5 million Americans became new gun owners from Jan. 1, 2019, to April 26, 2021, according to the 2021 National Firearms Survey.

For the first time in two decades, the report named the manufacturers whose guns had been used in crimes. Glock manufactured 20% of the pistols used in crimes, the ATF report said, and the most common type of gun used in a crime was a 9mm pistol.

ATF used to name dealers who had sold many of the crime guns until the 2003 Tiahrt Amendment to the Justice Department appropriations bill ended that practice.

Providing dealer information alongside gun manufacturer data would be helpful to control the flow of guns used in crimes, Webster said.

"There are profits to be made," said Webster. "Some notable number of dealers expand the marketplace systemically and routinely, and this is one of the big reasons we have increased gun violence."

[pscottm]

The Most Surprising New Gun Owners Are U.S. Liberals

And this might be the first presidential campaign where the Democratic candidates are the literal face of gun owners. Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris surprised many during the Sept. 10 debate when she noted, “Tim Walz and I are both gun owners.” (Harris, a former prosecutor, owns a handgun, while Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is an avid hunter.) Trump, convicted of a felony, faces the prospect of losing his right to possess a gun. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November.

Four decades ago, Democratic gun owners were typically white men, including auto or steel union workers who grew up hunting. Today’s liberal gun owners are much more diverse. Gun dealers saw the largest increase in Black Americans buying guns compared with any other racial group in 2023, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry group. Women accounted for nearly half of new gun buyers from 2019 to 2021, according to the 2021 National Firearms Survey of 19,000 adults, designed by professors at Harvard and Northeastern universities.

Hubbert, the anthropology professor, who received a federal National Endowment for the Humanities grant last year to research liberal gun owners, found that gay and transgender gun owners worried about rising hate crimes and Jewish people feared potential violence from pro-Palestinian groups or individuals. Black gun owners shared similar anxieties, along with mistrust of police in some areas and concerns about crime.

[mariacallous]

Gun violence and accidental gun deaths in the United States have become a serious threat to public health in recent years. Even worse, all indicators suggest casualties due to guns will continue rising. There has been a steep increase in suicides and murders involving guns over the past decade, reaching record or near-record highs. This includes the significant jump in murders observed during the pandemic, and unfortunately, there hasn’t been any shortage of gun violence in 2023. In fact, this summer has already been marked by a large number of mass shootings, including several over the 4th of July holiday.

Gun violence is not often considered in the context of public health and health policy. However, with these staggering numbers, gun violence is emerging as one of the leading causes of death for Americans. Deaths by guns include more than just homicides and mass shootings, encompassing suicides and accidental deaths as well. This range of gun-driven issues affects both adults and children, with data commissioned by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee Democratic Staff finding that gunshot wounds are the leading cause of death for children. Suicides make up a large portion of all deaths due to guns, and firearm suicides among teenagers and children in the U.S. have been on the rise.

The mental health toll caused by exposure to gun violence has also been well documented. Multiple studies have found that exposure to gun violence increases suicidal ideation, PTSD, depression, and anxiety, among other effects. Notably, the mental health impact of gun violence is felt disproportionately by Latinos and Black Americans.

Given the implications of firearm deaths in public health, it is imperative to explore the attitudes of residents in New Mexico regarding the utilization of Medicaid funding to address this social issue. New Mexico is an ideal state to analyze given the frequency of gun-related deaths in the state. The state ranked 3rd highest in the nation in 2021 for rates of gun violence with higher than average rates of gun fatalities for youth and adults alike. Following multiple deaths of young children in the state, Governor Lujan Grisham declared a public health crisis and immediately implemented emergency directives that included preventive measures such as monthly inspections of firearms dealers in the state and protecting children in public parks and playgrounds.

Public sentiment on using Medicaid dollars to address gun violence

As illustrated in earlier work, voters are highly supportive of policy interventions aimed at addressing gun violence and gun control. However, there has not been much data specifically focused on the utilization of Medicaid funding to tackle gun violence. This limitation is highlighted in the public opinion research utilizing fresh data from New Mexico’s Health Services Department.

The New Mexico Health Access Survey of 1,600 New Mexican residents includes questions about several measures that reveal to the state the policy attitudes of the population regarding these initiatives. This includes the utilization of Medicaid dollars to address several social issues that negatively impact health outcomes in the state, including gun violence. The survey found that 67% of New Mexicans support allowing the use of federal Medicaid dollars to reduce gun violence and mass shootings, compared to only 15% who oppose. The remaining 17% hold a neutral position.

Support for addressing gun violence through the use of Medicaid dollars is high across essentially all sub-groups of the population—including residents of rural counties of the state, 63% of which support the proposal. This is particularly promising given the higher rates of gun ownership among rural residents and their inclination towards conservative ideology compared to residents of urban areas of the state. Although the majority of all racial groups in the state are supportive of utilizing Medicaid dollars for this purpose, Black and Latino respondents are more supportive of the policy proposal than white respondents, which is notable given that people of color are more likely to become victims of gun violence. More specifically, Black, Latino, and Native Americans in New Mexico are more likely to die from gun violence than whites in the state, and Black residents are four times more likely to die from gun violence than their white, non-Hispanic New Mexican counterparts. Although specific to one state, the proposal’s robust support should assure policy leaders in other states in their pursuit of creative interventions to address gun deaths in their states.

Interventions to consider with Medicaid dollars

Although federal Medicaid rules prohibit expenditures for most non-medical services, state Medicaid programs have been developing strategies to tap into Medicaid dollars to address social challenges and social determinants. During the pandemic, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services provided some guidance to states on how to use Medicaid dollars to address social determinants of health.

The research on gun casualties suggests that accidental deaths are an important area to address through interventions, particularly to help protect children. Most accidental gun deaths involving children occur when kids are playing with guns, mistaking them for toys. Astonishingly, over 90% of those casualties happen with a gun that is loaded, unlocked, and accessible to the child. This implies that offering residents both educational resources regarding the hazards linked to children’s access to firearms and cost-effective or complimentary gun safety locks could significantly influence the observed concerning pattern in the data. In fact, research has found that utilizing smart gun safety systems saves lives, making them an attractive tool that can have tremendous benefits for states.

Although relatively new, several states have already initiated programs like this in their jurisdictions. This includes Minnesota, where they have given away free gun locks at their state fair to reach their goal of having a gun lock in the hands of all gun owners in the state. In Connecticut, on the other hand, the state has diverted some Medicaid funds to cover the cost of hospital-based violence intervention that is aimed at preventing gun violence victims from becoming revictimized again.

State leaders must be conscious of budget considerations within their Medicaid programs, as states have seen increased reliance on Medicaid services. There is fortunately a high projected return on investment for any interventions that can help reduce gun violence. Gun violence does not only take a human toll, but an economic one as well, as the cost of gun violence exceeds $1 billion dollars annually in initial medical costs for gunshot victims alone.

In New Mexico, gun violence costs an estimated $3,133 per resident annually, with gun deaths and injuries costing New Mexico $6.6 billion each year, of which $141.8 million is paid by taxpayers. Gunshot victims are not only very expensive to treat, but those who are able to be saved often find themselves back in the emergency room as repeat gunshot victims. Given that most of these patients are covered by Medicaid if they are insured, the use of Medicaid dollars to address this challenge is highly appropriate.

[dankusner]

SUPREME COURT Ghost guns, transgender care on upcoming agenda

Big questions at stake but election could upend plans for term

The Supreme Court wades back into hot-button issues including gun control, the death penalty and gender-affirming care for minors in the term that begins Monday, even as the fast-approaching presidential election could end up dominating the docket.

Last term was marked by blockbuster rulings on the scope of former President Donald Trump’s immunity from prosecution and place on the 2024 ballot, as well as federal agency power, social media regulation and abortion pills.

The cases on the court’s calendar so far pose other significant questions for the justices:

Can states prevent transgender adolescents from obtaining certain gender-affirming medical treatments?

Can the Biden administration regulate homemade “ghost guns” in the same way as other firearms?

Do age-verification requirements to protect minors from online pornography violate the First Amendment rights of adults?

Looming in the background is the November election and the possibility that the Supreme Court will be drawn into a slew of disputes over ballot counting and voting access.

That would put the justices in a pivotal position reminiscent of their role in the 2000 election, when the Supreme Court’s decision assured victory for George W. Bush over Al Gore and bitterly divided the nation.

Polls show a dramatic decline in public confidence in the Supreme Court after the majority eliminated the nationwide right to abortion in 2022 after nearly 50 years.

Seven out of 10 Americans believe the justices are guided by their ideology and do not rule impartially, according to a June survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

IN THE KNOW

Three major cases coming before the court

REGULATIONS ON GHOST GUNS

In its new term, the Supreme Court will examine the Biden administration’s regulation of “ghost guns,” untraceable firearms assembled from kits.

Such weapons have become increasingly popular with teenagers and those whose criminal records keep them from buying guns in the marketplace, and their use in violent crimes has spiked.

DID ATF EXCEED AUTHORITY?

The justices are reviewing a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which concluded that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its authority by requiring the ghost gun kits to follow the same licensing and recordkeeping rules as fully assembled guns sold by licensed retailers.

In a closely divided vote last summer, the Supreme Court initially allowed the regulations to remain in place while litigation continued.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in siding with the Biden administration.

But it’s unclear how that preliminary vote will play out before a court generally been skeptical of broad government regulation.

TEXAS’ ONLINE PORNOGRAPHY LAW

Later this term, the court will take up a challenge to a Texas law restricting minors from accessing obscene material online.

The measure requires websites that host sexually explicit content to verify that users are at least 18 years old through government-issued identification, digital identification or other methods.

Opponents say the law violates the First Amendment right of adults to view a broad range of sexual material.

It was challenged by a trade association for the adult-entertainment industry, companies that host sexual content on their websites and an adult-film star.

GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE FOR MINORS

The court will for the first time consider the constitutionality of laws banning certain gender transition treatment for people younger than 18.

Two dozen states have passed such restrictions since 2021 as the issue has moved to the forefront of the nation’s political divide.

The Supreme Court extended employment protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers in 2020 but has yet to rule on the constitutionality of lower-court decisions involving transgender minors, bathroom access or athletes.

TENNESSEE LAW AT STAKE:

At issue is Tennessee’s ban on transgender minors in the state accessing puberty blockers and hormones.

The Biden administration, transgender young people, their families and medical providers asked the court to reverse a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that upheld the ban. In a divided decision, Judge Jeffrey Sutton said courts should not second-guess state lawmakers in this instance.

[sobercentre]

Alcohol-related deaths Alcohol-related deaths(alcohol deaths) encompass fatalities related to alcohol consumption. They can range from violence erupting from alcohol misuse, liver disease, alcohol poisoning, drunk driving accidents, and other health conditions exacerbated by alcohol. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report of 2010 presents that excessive alcohol consumption contributes to 88,000 deaths yearly in the US. However, researchers imply that this CDC estimate was an undercount. There’s a good chance the death toll due to excessive drinking is now above 140,000, as determined by a 2015-19 survey. This means a minimum of 380 deaths per day! Other reports show 29 DUI-related deaths per day in the US. In the year 2012, the national DUI death toll was 10,327. In more recent statistics, the National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS) revealed alcohol-related death toll had increased by more than 25% - from slightly over 39,000 to more than 49,000 deaths between 2019-’20. In 2021, the post-pandemic alcohol-related death toll went up 34% to more than 52,000 deaths. According to the World Health Organization, there were about 3 million alcohol-related deaths (alcohol deaths) in 2016 on a global scale. Major contributing factors The inflated death toll due to alcohol consumption has been attributable to the following factors: Chronic health conditions – prolonged and excessive alcohol consumption causes chronic health conditions such as liver cirrhosis, liver and oesophageal cancers, pancreatitis, and cardiovascular diseases. Accidents and injuries – alcohol impairs judgement, coordination and reaction times, increasing the risk of accidents and injuries. Such incidents include motor vehicle accidents, falls, drowning, occupational accidents, and fires. Violence and homicides – alcohol is associated with aggressive behaviour, leading to interpersonal violence. Suicide and self-harm – mental health issues often accompany alcohol abuse disorder. Mental illnesses, combined with alcohol misuse, may increase the risk of impulsive actions, which nourish suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Underlying health conditions – people with pre-existing health conditions, such as liver or kidney diseases, are more susceptible to the adverse effects of alcohol consumption. Their medications can also interact negatively with alcohol, increasing the risk of complications and death. Impact of alcohol-related deaths With the appalling figures demonstrated above, there has been a domino effect on the population. Researchers have reported that deaths from excessive drinking have: Increase the number of premature deaths, leading to a loss of more than half of the years of potential life. Pregnant women consuming alcohol also predispose their unborn child to Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), which can lead to premature death in severe cases. Significantly shortened the lives of people with a life expectancy of 26 years. Primarily resulted from the health effects of excessive drinking over a long period. Predominantly involved male adults above 35 years. Gun-related deaths Gun deaths are deaths by involvement of a firearm. This encompasses suicides, homicides, or accidental shootings resulting from mental health issues, accidents, domestic violence or criminal activity. According to Amnesty International, about 2,000 people are injured by gunshots daily. More than 500 people from this number die every day. On a global scale, more than 2 million people live with firearm injuries, and millions suffer the long-term psychological effects of gun violence. Gunshot injuries always cause an ingrained physical and mental impact on the victim’s health. Statistics from the CDC reveal that about 48,830 people died from gun violence in the US in 2021. Of this number, 54% (26,328) of gun-related deaths were suicides, 43% (20,958) were homicides, and the rest were accidental, imposed by law enforcement of civilians, and undetermined incidents accounting for 549, 537, and 458 respectively.

Even more devastating is that between 2014-18, 15,000 children and teenagers under the age bracket 1-19 succumbed to gun violence. Of this number, 13,000 succumbed to unintentional firearm-related injuries. The Commonwealth has declared gun violence the leading cause of death among US children and teens aged between 1-19. The Gun Violence Archive Report 2023 shows that the total number of gun deaths by July this year was 22,289, and gun-related injuries were 19,373. Major contributing factors There are certain risk factors which predispose one to gun violence. They include: Firearm availability – the availability and accessibility of guns play a significant role in gun-related deaths. There are higher rates of gun availability in developed countries compared to developing or underdeveloped countries. For every 100 people, there are about 120.5 guns in circulation. Data shows that 1.7 million children in the States live with unlocked and loaded guns. When extrapolated, one in every three homes with kids has guns. In addition, there are over 393 million guns in circulation today. Mental health – with the high rates of gun availability, individuals with untreated mental health issues often fall victim to suicides or homicides. Suicide vs. homicide overlap – gun-related deaths may sometimes involve a combination of homicides and suicides. This happens when individuals end their lives or harm others before or during the act. Accidental shootings – lack of education, training, negligence and improper storage of firearms can result in unintentional shootings. Accidental shootings are prone in households with unsecured firearms or where children can easily access loaded guns. 31% of accidental gun deaths are preventable had the firearms had a loading indicator or a childproof safety lock. Domestic violence – firearms in domestic conflicts increase the risk of their lethality as they empower the perpetrator and reduce the chances for the victim to escape or defend themselves. Impact of gun violence Gun violence affects victims, their families, the community, and society. Some of the key impacts of gun violence include: Loss of life. Physical and psychological injuries on the survivors of gun violence. Fear and trauma – communities impacted by gun violence live in an environment of fear, anxiety, and trauma. The neighbourhoods and schools live in insecurity, affecting the lives of residents. Social disruption – the loss of community members, lack of trust, and fear of violence can fracture the social fabric of a people. This can also breed retaliatory violence from a community. Economic burden – gun violence breeds costs associated with medical care, mental health services, and rehabilitation. It also leads to the loss of productivity, income, and workforce due to injuries or deaths. These significantly impact the economic stability of families and communities at large. In high-income countries such as the US, medical spending goes beyond hospital rooms. Gunshot patients spend an average of $2,945 per month the year following the injury. Public health burden – over the years, gun violence has substantially impacted the healthcare system. This is accrued in providing mental health support, treating gunshot injuries, and counselling the affected communities. With the US being the leading country with the highest firearm-related injuries, more than $1 billion is spent on initial medical costs, with most burden going to Medicaid and other public insurance programs. The US registers about 30,000 inpatient and 50,000 emergency visits each year. In 2020, firearm deaths accrued to over $290 million. Furthermore, most factors driving gun- and alcohol-related deaths are multifaceted. Much evidence has been presented suggesting a link between excessive alcohol consumption and gun violence. This is mainly due to the rising statistics on gun violence crimes whose perpetrators had acutely or heavily consumed alcohol.

Some pioneering points that depict an intersection between the two are listed below: The link between gun violence and excessive alcohol consumption Evidence of the link between alcohol abuse and gun violence Alcohol and firearm-involved suicide Although not all suicides involving firearms are related to alcohol consumption, studies have shown that many individuals who committed suicide by firearm had alcohol in their system at the time of death. Alcohol plays a significant role in increasing impulsivity and impaired judgement. Nonetheless, mental health plays a significant role in fuelling alcohol-related problems. Statistics reveal that alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar, and schizophrenia, among other disorders. These conditions increase the frequency of suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Factoring alcohol into the equation only increases the likelihood of impulsive acts of self-harm. A  National Institute of Health (NIH) report proves that 35.0% of US firearm suicide victims had acute amounts of alcohol in their system. In comparison, a corresponding 25.2% had heavily consumed alcohol. Access to firearms is also a primary contributor to firearm- and alcohol-related suicides. People with easy access to guns and underlying mental and substance use disorders are more likely to commit suicide by firearm than those without access. Alcohol and firearm-related homicides While research has attempted to establish an intersection between alcohol use, homicides and firearms, it is crucial to note that this relationship is multifaceted and varies depending on social, cultural and individual circumstances. One thing is for sure, alcohol aggravates aggression and impaired judgement. Additionally, violent behaviour from alcohol misuse may not always lead to a criminal act or homicide. However, it would be remiss not to recognize that a significant proportion of homicides involve the misuse of alcohol by either the perpetrator, the victim, or both, at the time of the crime. This is backed by statistics from the NIH, which report that an average of 37.2% of US firearm homicide victims had mildly consumed alcohol before their death, while 30.1% had heavy amounts of alcohol in their system. Prevention Efforts Gun control Gun control has been viewed from both a public health and political perspective. This is because it involves political elements such as legislation, constitutional rights, and policymaking. It has also ravished significant public health concerns for individuals, communities, and the population, begging the question – is gun violence a public health issue or a political matter? It is worth noting that the perception from both lenses varies across different countries, depending on their specific social, cultural, and political contexts. The US, for instance, has the highest number of civilian firearms per capita with a gun ownership clause that reads, “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Although the US has less than 5% of the global population, it is home to 46% of civilian-owned guns globally. Even though the law prohibits specific individuals (persons with DUI convictions, the mentally disabled, military personnel discharged dishonourably, persons under 18 years of age, and convicted felons) from purchasing guns, some laws, such as banning handguns, do not survive judicial review. Canada, which closely follows firearm deaths and gun restrictions, has set amendable limits according to the territory or municipality of implementation. Moreover, the Montreal Massacre of 1989 opened the gateway to major gun reforms in the country, constituting training courses, waiting periods, background checks and bans on military-style and large-capacity firearms. In Australia, the National Agreement on Firearms prohibits ownership of automatic and semiautomatic firearms,

enforces licensing and registration, and a temporary buyback policy that recovered 650,000 assault weapons from the population. Controlling alcohol deaths While the issue of gun violence is one to do with enforcing policies on accessibility and use, alcohol, on the other hand, is freely available. A lot of attention is guided toward gun control negating the fact that alcohol is equally, if not more, harmful. The truth of the matter is alcohol has caused more deaths than firearms. The only difference is that alcohol is a subtle killer while guns are lethal – perhaps the reason why gun control makes more noise than alcohol restriction. Since the problem of alcoholism is multifactorial, efforts to prevent alcohol-related suicides/alcohol deaths and homicides require a comprehensive approach that will address mental health issues, firearm safety, and responsible alcohol consumption. On a large scale, such initiatives might include holding community-based violence prevention campaigns, implementing stricter firearm laws, and enhancing access to mental health services. Enforcement of alcohol control policies includes setting minimum drinking ages, heavy regulation on alcohol advertising, restrictions on hours and locations of alcohol sales, monopolizing alcohol retail services and imposing high taxes on alcoholic products. While such policies exist in different countries, the degree of their implementation and effectiveness varies across regions. The ripple effect of these legislations is to control overconsumption, availability and accessibility, as well as promote responsible drinking. Together with public health initiatives, community engagement, and personal responsibility, the legislation could significantly reduce the alcohol-related death toll in the next few years.

[marcedrickirby]

Revolver vs Semiauto for Carry - My Take on a 100-Year-Old Debate

MARCEDRIC KIRBY FOUNDER CEO.

MARCEDRIC.KIRBY INC.

THE VALLEY OF THE VAMPIRES

[uncloseted]

To the person questioning the gun, I understand the bafflement but also whether or not dad (or you) was being fully serious he has a point... that is if you're licensed, practice gun safety and are willing to own a gun. It's a scary ass world and as weird as it may sound in America, owning a gun could very much potentially save your life, /especially/ living alone as a woman. Of course there are other methods of self defense too, and I completely understand all the reasons why people wouldn't be comfortable having a gun in their home.

I'm actually inclined to say that I do think it's a bad idea to own a gun, particularly if you're living alone. You're about 7.5 times more likely to die by suicide if you own a gun than you are to defend yourself with a gun in a home invasion situation where the offender is a stranger with a firearm. It's just not worth the risk.

Some Back-of-the-Napkin Math

According to the Department of Justice, 1.7 million home burglaries took place in 2017. That's about 0.51% of the US population that experienced a home burglary in 2017- about a 75% reduction in burglaries since the 1980s. A member of the household was only present for 28% of the burglaries, and only 7% of burglaries had a household member that experienced some form of violent victimization. So that's about 119,000 people who experienced violent victimization, or about 0.035% of all people in the US. Offenders were known to their victims in 65% of violent burglaries- so about 77,350 of people who were violently victimized during a home burglary knew their assailant.

61% of offenders were unarmed when violence occurred during a burglary while a resident was present, and only about 12% of all households that were violently burglarized while someone was home faced an offender armed with a firearm - that's about 14,280 incidents where the burglar had a firearm each year (I'm ramping up to something here, I promise). So that's 0.004% of people each year who experience a burglary where the assailant has a firearm, and of that 0.004%, only 35% of the offenders were strangers to their victims. So only around 4,998 people in the US experienced a burglary where the victim had a firearm and was a stranger to them- 0.0015% of the total population. That's about 1 in 100,000 people. And of those incidents, not all of them end in a homicide.

Now, does having a gun significantly change those odds? Not really. According to a Harvard University analysis of figures from the National Crime Victimization Survey, people defended themselves with a gun in only 0.9% of crimes from 2007 to 2011. So if we take that to be true, only about 45 people who experienced a burglary where the victim had a firearm and was a stranger to them defend themselves with a gun each year.

But one of the most likely ways for a person to die is death by suicide via a firearm. In 2021, death by suicide became the 11th leading cause of death in the US, and it was the the 2nd leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 34. About 54.6% of deaths by suicide are via firearm. That's about 7.5 gun suicides per 100,000 people in 2021,. It's also the most lethal way that people attempt suicide; about 85% of suicide attempts with a firearm end in death. And a 2008 study by Miller and David Hemenway, HICRC director and author of the book Private Guns, Public Health, found that rates of firearm suicides in states with the highest rates of gun ownership are 3.7 times higher for men and 7.9 times higher for women, compared with states with the lowest gun ownership—though the rates of non-firearm suicides are about the same. This suggests that gun ownership increases the likelihood that someone will attempt suicide.

What Can You Do?

That said, there are things you can do to prevent your home from being a target of burglary or other home invasion crimes. In 40% of unlawful entries to unoccupied residences, offenders gained access through an unlocked door or windows, so just locking your doors and outside windows is an easy way to reduce the likelihood that you'll be victimized. Damaging or removing a door or removing or damaging a window screen are the two most common ways that burglars enter a home, so reinforcing the locks or getting additional locks is a good idea if you're worried that your current locks can be broken. This is especially true if you have sliding glass doors, which tend to be more vulnerable.

Another thing you can do to protect yourself is to make sure you don't open the door for strangers and that you're protecting your keys. In 18% of burglaries of occupied residences, someone just let the offender in. In 12% of cases, someone inside opened the door and the offender pushed their way in. This source says that around 40% of annual household burglaries in the United States are not forced entries at all. The corollary to this is that you should always know what's going on with your family, friends, and significant others. People don't just choose to become burglars; they do it because they're desperate. The top reasons for committing burglaries was related to the need to acquire drugs (51%) or money (37%). Increasing your social support for people in your life who are struggling will decrease the likelihood that they'll burgle you.

Alarms are also a good deterrent, and will usually prevent a burglar from continuing. 60% of burglars said they would seek an alternative target if there was an alarm on-site. Having a camera or alarm system that's obvious to anyone walking by your house will significantly reduce the likelihood that someone will try to break in. Just having one of those yard signs that says you have an alarm is a good deterrent, even if you don't actually have an alarm. A doorstop alarm is also a good idea- it prevents the door from being opened and if force is used, it sets the alarm off.

Don't leave a spare key out. In 4% of cases, burglars actually have a key to the residence, and this is usually because the person left a key under a flower pot or doormat in case they got locked out of their house. Instead, give a spare to a neighbor or a friend you know well, or put it in a combination lockbox with a strong passcode.

[tallmantall]

#JamesDonaldson On #MentalHealth – More #Women Attempt #Suicide. More #Men Die By #Suicide.

BY DANIEL DE VISÉ America faces a large and growing public health problem: suicide by men.  More than 38,000 men died by suicide in 2021, the highest number and rate of deaths in 20 years. Men die of suicide at four times the rate of women.   As a societal issue, male suicide has been somewhat overshadowed by the very real #mentalhealthcrisis afflicting American women and girls.   Thirty-seven percent of women have been diagnosed with depression in their lifetimes, compared to 20 percent of men, and those rates are rising, according to Gallup survey data released Wednesday.   Paradoxically, women are more likely to attempt suicide, but men are more likely to die by suicide. The main reason is firearms.  A person who attempts suicide with a gun is many times more likely to die than someone who uses another method, such as pills or self-inflicted cuts. Firearms figure in only 5 percent of suicide attempts but in over half of deaths.   America may lead the developed world in #suicideattempts, according to a 2008 study of #suicidalideation in 17 countries.   Many who attempt suicide are conflicted and irresolute. Too often, a gun makes the decision final.  “Even at the moment when the person has decided to make the attempt, there’s a lot of ambivalence,” said Elly Stout, a #suicideprevention specialist at the nonprofit Education Development Center. “If you take a bunch of pills, there is a moment where you can change your mind.”  Between 2015 and 2020, federal data shows, 122,178 men died of suicide by firearm, compared to 19,297 women. Together, those deaths represented about 2.5 million years of lost human life.  The second most common method of suicide, suffocation, claimed 59,382 men and 17,088 women in that half-decade span. Suffocation typically means death by hanging, or by covering the head to cut off the supply of air.   Drug poisoning, which was the third most common, was the only significant suicide method more prevalent among women (16,678 deaths) than men (12,641).  The rise in male suicides mirrors the rise of #guns in America. The nation purchased nearly 60 million firearms between 2020 and 2022, part of a larger cycle of panic-buying amid the #COVID-19 #pandemic.   More Americans died of #gunviolence in 2020 and 2021 than in any prior year on record. The majority of those deaths were suicides.  “Our suicide rates are very much tied to firearms,” said Mitch Prinstein, the John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina.  By age and gender, the demographic group most likely to die of suicide is elderly men. Men older than 75 died in suicides at a rate of 42.2 per 100,000 Americans in 2021, the highest quotient for men or women of any age.  “Some of that is kind of related to our stereotypes of masculinity,” said Julie Cerel, a suicide researcher at the University of Kentucky. “If you’re no longer in your prime, what’s the point of it all? People who are widowed, people who are no longer able to provide.”  Yet, over the past 20 years, suicides among elderly men are relatively flat.   More alarming, perhaps, is the swift rise in suicides among the young. The suicide rate for boys and young men in the 15-24 age group rose by nearly half between 2001 and 2021, from 16.5 per 100,000 people to 23.8.   #James Donaldson notes:Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.  #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticleFind out more about the work I do on my 501c3 non-profit foundationwebsite www.yourgiftoflife.org                            Order your copy of James Donaldson's latest book,#CelebratingYourGiftofLife:From The Verge of Suicide to a Life of Purpose and Joy www.celebratingyourgiftoflife.com The #suiciderate for girls and women in the same age group more than doubled in the same span, to 6.1 per 100,000.  Suicides among girls ages 10-14, almost unknown 20 years ago, rose to 2.3 per 100,000 in 2021.  #Girls and #women, too, are dying by self-inflicted #gunshot wounds in greater numbers than in years past.  “It used to be that firearms were rarely used by #women,” Cerel said. “The myth used to be that #women wouldn’t use methods of taking their life that would change how they look, essentially, and that doesn’t seem to be the case.”  The easy availability of firearms is an obvious factor in the prevalence of #suicide among men. Other reasons speak to the essence of American masculinity.  Society encourages #girls to open up about their mental health and to seek therapy for #depression, a skill set discouraged in #boys.  “#Boys and #men haven’t been socialized to talk about mental health concerns. They’ve historically been thought of as weaknesses,” Cerel said. “The expectation for #males in this country is, they’re strong, they’re independent, they take care of themselves, they don’t need help.”  #Women are twice as likely as #men to seek #mentalhealthtreatment, according to federal data.   And why are young people becoming more prone to suicide? One factor may be a sense of belonging, which, in recent years, seems to be slipping away.   Men, in particular, have struggled in recent years to make friends and form relationships.  “I think we don’t have as much of a sense of connectedness in our communities,” said Nadine Kaslow, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine.  “When I was growing up, everybody in the neighborhood knew everybody,” Kaslow said. “That’s changed. It’s this sense of #isolation and #loneliness.”  Much was made of the nation’s collective ennui during the pandemic. Yet, suicide rates actually ticked down in 2020. Why? Because everyone was home.  “During the summer, during holiday breaks, during the #pandemic, those rates actually went down,” Cerel said.  It’s true: People are actually less prone to suicide during the holidays. Suicide rates rise in spring and summer, “when people get away from each other and go out in the world,” Cerel said.  Solitude and suicide travel hand in hand. Humans don’t want to die where loved ones will find them, both because of the #trauma such a discovery will inflict and because a loved one might try to save them.  Some of Cerel’s research focuses on exploding the myth that only a few loved ones suffer when someone dies by #suicide.   A longstanding theory held that every suicide left roughly six people behind. Cerel found the number closer to 135, a massive circle of friends and loved ones who may need mental health support to endure the loss. Tragically, suicide can beget more suicide.  “For many people, losing someone to suicide opens the door to suicidality where it hadn’t been open before,” she said.  Social media plays an ambiguous role in suicide. Many reports have suggested a link between #TikTok and #Instagram and worsening mental health. But researchers see potential benefits in those platforms.  “#Socialmedia is a place where people who are marginalized can get help,” Cerel said. “And you can find online social support when you don’t have it at home.”   Our nation’s mental health investment stands in dire need, #suicide experts say.  All Americans could benefit from an annual mental health checkup, on top of the standard physical checkup, Prinstein said.   Sadly, the mental health checkup isn’t really a thing, partly because of enduring #stigmas around #mentalhealth.   #Psychotherapists are spread thin. The nation spends hundreds of times more money training its medical workforce than preparing #mentalhealthproviders, Prinstein said. As a result, #rural #Americans may find themselves an hour’s drive from the nearest #therapist, a scenario hard to imagine in medicine.   “There’s not as much access as we need,” Kaslow said.  If you are having thoughts of #suicide, contact the #988SuicideandCrisisLifeline.   Read the full article

[fahrni]

Just another Monday in America

CNN

A 23-year-old bank employee opened fire at his workplace in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday morning and livestreamed the attack that left four dead and nine others wounded, authorities said.

More dead and wounded. Our obsession with guns in America is an epidemic. It should be treated as such and removed from society.

We can start by revoking the Second Amendment. [insert gasps and pearl clutching here.]

Next outlaw weapons of war for use by the general population.

Add longer waiting periods for delivery of weapons.

Outlaw selling at gun shows.

Require purchasers to be over 21 in all states.

Require every gun to be insured for death and dismemberment, like a cars accidental death and dismemberment.

Require training by a US Certified weapons specialist.

Require recertification for the permit to own a weapon every year.

Require background checks and certification from doctors stating the mental well being of the potential owner.

All weapons registered with a central database managed by the ATF.

Require annual inspections for each weapon to certify they’re in good working order and have not been unsafely modified.

There’s my starting list. As much as I think it’s fine to not own a gun and don’t see the need for them, you can still have your guns. Just be responsible owners.

The gun used in the shooting was an AR-15-style rifle, a federal law enforcement source told CNN. The AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle, is the most popular sporting rifle in the US, and about 24.6 million people have owned an AR-15 or similarly style rifle, according to the 2021 National Firearms Survey.

Ah, yes, the favorite weapon of mass murderers, the AR-15 was used in this multiple murder as well.

We’re a pathetic nation that values guns over people, and don’t even care enough about children to do anything sensible to prevent mass killings.

The performative GOP loves to talk about mental health in this nation when something like this happens. Yes, let’s take care of mental health issues in this country, but that’s a separate issue, isn’t it?

The problem is easy access to guns.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

As the federal government struggles to recruit young people, a recent survey found that 30% of those between the ages of 18 and 30 have either declined to apply or withdrawn applications for jobs because of strict marijuana policies required for security clearances.

The poll, published on the unofficial marijuana holiday April 20 by ClearanceJobs and the Intelligence and National Security Foundation (INSF), interviewed young adults about federal employment policies, focusing on cannabis.

Participants were first asked whether they’d consider working in a federal position that requires security clearance, and almost 80% said they either would or might consider applying; 40% also said that they’ve used marijuana in the past year.

One of the most notable findings is that 20% of participants said they’ve declined to apply for federal jobs because of the government’s restrictive cannabis policies. Another 10% said they’ve withdrawn applications because of the marijuana rules.

The survey also found that 25% said the government’s marijuana policy would prevent them from seeking employment requiring a security clearance in the future. While 39% said they’d be willing to abstain from cannabis in order to secure a federal job, 18% said they wouldn’t. And 15% said that they wouldn’t stop using marijuana after getting a security clearance.

Interestingly, most of the panel didn’t have a firm grasp on what the government’s cannabis policy actually is. 16% said that any marijuana use automatically disqualifies applicants for security clearance, 37% said there’s no eligibility impact, 24% said it is one of several factors that are considered for clearance, and 23% said they didn’t know.

Similarly, there’s confusion about the policies for people who’ve already obtained security clearances, with 9% saying those individuals can use marijuana anywhere, 31% saying they can use in a legal jurisdiction, 33% saying cannabis use is prohibited, and 26% saying they didn’t know.

Only 4% of participants correctly answered both questions about what the federal government’s security clearance rules are for applicants and those who are already cleared.

The survey involved interviews with 905 adults aged 18-30 living in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, California, Florida, Texas and Colorado. The interviews took place in February. The margin of error is +/- 3.23 percentage points.

While marijuana employment policies under federal prohibition remain strict, various agencies have moved to loosen requirements as more states have enacted legalization.

For example, the United States Secret Service recently updated its employment policy to be more accommodating to applicants who’ve previously used marijuana, making it so candidates of any age become eligible one year after they last consumed cannabis. Previously, there were stricter age-based restrictions.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has also revised its cannabis rules for job applicants. Applicants who’ve grown, manufactured or sold marijuana in compliance with state laws while serving in a “position of public responsibility” will no longer be automatically disqualified.

Late last year, draft documents obtained by Marijuana Moment showed that the federal Office of Personnel Management was proposing to replace a series of job application forms for prospective workers in a way that would treat past cannabis use much more leniently than under current policy.

The Biden administration instituted a policy in 2021 authorizing waivers to be granted to certain workers who disclose prior marijuana use, but some lawmakers have pushed for additional reform.

For example, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said at a congressional hearing on marijuana legalization last year that he intended to file a bill aimed at protecting federal workers from being denied security clearances over marijuana.

Last year, the nation’s largest union representing federal employees adopted a resolution supporting marijuana legalization and calling for an end to policies that penalize federal workers who use cannabis responsibly while they’re off the clock in states where it is legal.

The Director of National Intelligence said in 2021 that federal employers shouldn’t outright reject security clearance applicants over past use, and should use discretion when it comes to those with cannabis investments in their stock portfolios.

The FBI also updated its hiring policies that year to make it so candidates are only automatically disqualified from joining the agency if they disclose having used marijuana within one year of applying. Previously, prospective employees could not have used cannabis within the past three years.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) also took a different approach to its cannabis policy in 2020, stating in a notice that it would not be testing drivers for CBD. However, DOT has more recently reiterated that the workforce it regulates is prohibited from using marijuana and will continue to be tested for THC, regardless of state cannabis policy.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) sent a letter to the head of DOT last year, stating that the agency’s policies on drug testing truckers and other commercial drivers for marijuana are unnecessarily costing people their jobs and contributing to supply chain issues.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also emphasized to its workers that they are prohibited from using marijuana—or directly investing in the industry—no matter the state law or changes in “social norms” around cannabis.

While the Biden administration did institute its waiver policy, it came under fire from advocates following reports that the White House fired or otherwise punished dozens of staffers who were honest about their history with marijuana.

Then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki attempted to minimize the fallout, without much success, and her office released a statement in 2021 saying that nobody was fired for “marijuana usage from years ago,” nor terminated “due to casual or infrequent use during the prior 12 months.”

[johnnytortuga]

I'm familiar with the Kleck study. It's actually taken from three year-over-year surveys commissioned by the CDC. So, are you saying that the CDC, who had supposedly been "banned" from studying firearms statistics, decided to go ahead and do THREE consecutive surveys on crime and gun use, then the guy who uses the numbers that the government compiled, didn't do it right?

Ok... sure. But, anyway, no.

Your link to the NCVS study isn't quite as helpful as you might think. It's not actually a gun use survey, it's a crime survey. You were given an option to answer questions about gun use, IF you indicated you were the victim of a crime. So, I'm just going to throw out there that this survey is nowhere near as reliable as the Kleck study.

The 2021 National Firearms Survey, done by William English, at Georgetown U, is the largest EVER defensive gun use study. 54,000 respondents, 16,000 of them being gun owners. As a Man of Science, you should take a look. My mistake in attribution to DOJ.

I'm not going to say that parents don't bring their children along to pick out their first firearm, I haven't yet. What my point was, was that your anon was either much older and out of touch than you think or, he was not telling the truth. I think I've more than proven my point on that front.

To the number of firearms in the U.S.. Yes, there are a lot. But, they didn't all get bought in a year, or five years, or even a hundred years. Your link didn't work but, I'll assume that those are all the functional firearms in the U.S., including muskets, black powder rifles, cannons, and etc.... Ok, no problem. 393,000,000, spanning from today, back through to the founding and further. 270+ years it took to get that many functioning firearms in private hands. That should be a sufficient explanation, don't you think?

Gun nuts act like they have to do an olympic sport to get their favorite murder weapon. Yet when I was 15 all I needed to do to get my first gun was show up at a store with my mom's boyfriend (NOT my legal guardian), pick a gun out, make sure it was the right size for me to be able to fire it and not land on my ass due to recoil, and give them my birthday money while he looked around. No ID or license. Only question asked was whether or not my mom's boyfriend would take responsibility for ensuring I was safe with it (which he said yes, and then proceeded to never keep the gun cabinet we had locked and ensured that I knew where the ammo was- which was also in the gun cabinet).

It's ridiculously easy to get a gun in this country.

I'm older now and outgrew that gun (and gained a distaste for all assault rifles after hearing about every school shooting that happened in the span of me growing up), but I still have a hunting rifle. You'll never believe how I got it (for free, from my father in law), but conservatives will never believe how I use it (for hunting animals, instead of their preferred hunting of children).

Yeah, there's no reason anyone should be able to get a gun without showing at least that they know how to minimally secure it and use it safely.

It takes an extraordinary level of cognitive dissonance to both be aware of the process of buying a gun in the US and also believing that it's unbelievably onerous.

[mariacallous]

Americans bought an estimated 150m guns in the past decade, as a drumbeat of mass shootings and other violence has convinced more people that owning a gun for self-defense will make them safer.

In a country where the leading cause of gun death is gun suicide, public health experts say a growth in gun ownership is likely to lead to more deaths.

In the 10 years since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school, the US gun safety movement has gained some political power, while the National Rifle Association has been weakened by internal disputes and legal battles. At the same time, overall gun ownership in the US appears to have grown.

People who choose to own guns are still a minority of the US population, with about a third of Americans saying they personally own a gun, and fewer than half saying they live in a house with a gun, according to survey estimates.

But the total number of American gun owners appears to have risen in recent years. One large survey conducted by Harvard and Northeastern University researchers estimates that the number of American gun owners rose by 20 million since 2015, from an estimated 55 million to 75 million people.

The number of Americans who choose to carry guns in public also appears to be rising, with 16 million people saying in 2019 that they carried a handgun at least once a month, and 6 million saying they did so daily, according to a new research study. That’s roughly double the number who said they regularly carried handguns in public in 2015.

Surveys over the past few decades show that an increasing proportion of Americans say they own a gun for self-defense, not hunting or recreation, said Deborah Azrael, a Harvard firearms researcher. In 2021, Gallup found, 88% percent of gun owners cited “crime protection” as their reason for owning a firearm.

Americans’ perception of the risk of crime and violence has often not lined up with reality: Gallup also found that, for nearly three decades, large majorities of Americans said almost every year that crime had risen nationally since the year before, even in the years when it was falling sharply. In 2013, Pew found that the majority of the public was simply unaware that the country’s gun homicide rate had fallen nearly 50% since 1993.

In the past three years, the coronavirus pandemic, nationwide protests against police violence and the insurrection at the US capitol supercharged US gun sales, with an estimated 5 million Americans becoming gun owners in 2020 and 2021, researchers found.

The top reasons for buying a gun early in the pandemic, according to a survey of California residents, were concerns about lawlessness, concerns about people being released from prison, the “government going too far,” and “government collapse.”

“When social problems happen, guns are one of the tools at the disposal of Americans”, and for many Americans, they are “a familiar tool”, Jennifer Carlson, a sociologist who studies US firearms culture, told the Guardian in an early 2020 interview, as gun sales surged. “If there’s a run on toilet paper, what’s going to be next? It’s just the prudent thing to get a gun.”

The majority of US gun owners are still white men, and the largest proportion live in the South, according to survey data. But research studies and gun industry sources agree that the demographics of gun ownership is shifting, with women estimated to make up half of new gun purchasers since 2019, and people of color making up nearly half, according to one major survey. Between 2019 and 2021, an estimated 5% of Black adults in the United States bought a gun for the first time.

Because of the political influence of gun rights advocates, there is no official government data on how many Americans own guns, or even exactly how many guns there are in civilian hands. Estimates range from 345m to 393m to more than 420m, according to the firearm industry trade group’s most recent data.

While there’s lots of interest in the eye-popping total number of guns in the US, “what matters is how these guns are distributed across people and households”, said Matthew Miller, a Northeastern University professor who specializes in firearm research, and what that distribution means for their increased risk of gun suicide, homicide or accidental injury.

His 2021 study found that a surge of gun buying before and during the pandemic meant that an additional 5 million US children now live in households with guns.

The best proxy for US gun sales over time is examining the number of federal criminal background checks conducted on gun sales by licensed firearms dealers. (In many states, individuals can sell guns to each other without any background check.)

Two widely cited estimates, both based on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ background check statistics, put the number of gun sales in the US since January 2013 at around 150m, though that figure is likely an undercount.

Because Americans can buy multiple firearms at one time with a single background check, and because some states also allow people with a concealed weapons license to buy guns without background checks, the actual number of gun sales in the past decade is almost certainly higher than 150m, said Mark Oliva of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group that estimates there were at least 152m guns sales since January 2013.

At the same time, the number of background checks over the past decade will also include some double-counting of the same guns re-sold between people, said Jurgen Brauer, the co-founder of Small Arms Analytics, a firearms data company. Brauer estimates that, by the end of December, the total number of US gun sales in the past decade will reach nearly 164m.

Gun deaths have been rising in recent years, with a stark 35% increase in the nation’s firearm homicide rate in 2020, but a study that examined the pandemic surge in gun sales and increase in gun murders at the state level found no evidence of a clear association.

There were nearly 21,000 firearm homicides and more than 26,000 firearm suicides across the US in 2021, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

[prolifeproliberty]

In 2021, there were an estimated 1.67 million defensive uses of firearms.

1.67 million times, people defended themselves or those around them using guns.

Gun grabbers say we should ban or heavily restrict guns “if it saves just one life.”

Why settle for saving one life if you can save 1.67 million?

Here’s the tricky part: you’ll never get 24/7 news coverage of someone defending themselves - or if you do, that news coverage will try to demonize them and cast doubt on their self defense claim (as they did to Rittenhouse).

Understand that the greatest lies the media tells aren’t the things they tell you that are false. The greatest lie is what they leave out when they’re manipulating you into having the opinion they want you to have.

[ukrfeminism]

Rape and sexual offence cases have soared to the highest number in a single year since records began, official figures show.

A total of 63,136 rapes were recorded in the year to September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), up 13 per cent from 56,119 in the previous period.

However, recent data showed that rape convictions had continued to slump despite concerted efforts to reverse the trend.

The ONS data, released today, showed the highest recorded annual figure to date and included 17,419 offences between July and September — the highest quarterly figure.

The highest number of sexual offences was also recorded in the 12 months to September (170,973), a 12 per cent increase compared with 152,620 in the same period the previous year. This is driven by “noticeable increases since April 2021”, the ONS said.

Rape accounted for 37 per cent of all sexual offences recorded by police.

The ONS said the latest figures may reflect a “number of factors”, including the “impact of high-profile incidents, media coverage and campaigns on people’s willingness to report incidents to the police, as well as a potential increase in the number of victims”, and it urged caution when interpreting the data.

The figures cover the months following the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March last year.

Everard, 33, was abducted and killed by Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens, prompting a national debate about sexual violence, the safety of women and the response from government, police and prosecutors.

The ONS added: “The overall trend is also currently difficult to disentangle from the impact of lockdowns. Offences recorded by the police dropped noticeably during the spring 2020 lockdown before rebounding to previous levels in the July to September 2020 quarter.

“The winter 2020-2021 lockdowns saw a smaller reduction in the number of sexual offences recorded by the police but a greater level of increase in these offences in the subsequent quarters.”

The organisation also said estimates from its telephone-operated crime survey (TCSEW) for the year ending showed a 14 per cent increase in total crime, driven by a 47 per cent increase in fraud and computer misuse.

Excluding fraud and computer misuse, this figure showed an overall decrease of 14 per cent, largely driven by an 18 per cent decrease in theft offences.

Incidents of violence in the survey remained stable but there was a 27 per cent decrease in the number of victims of violent crime.

The main decrease, according to the telephone survey, was in violence where the offender was a stranger, where the number of victims have dropped by 50 per cent, a figure the ONS said was “in part reflecting the closure of the night-time economy for several months of the year”.

Despite the reduction in violence indicated by the telephone survey, police recorded crime showed that the murder and manslaughter rate had remained broadly stable, with a 5 per cent increase excluding the 38 migrant victims of the Essex lorry disaster.

Police recorded crime also showed a 9 per cent decline in the number of offences involving firearms and a 10 per cent decrease in offences involving knives or sharp instruments (knife-enabled crime).