Gun Deaths, From FiveThirtyEight

For John, BLUF:  Since there are other ways to die besides guns, looking at who dies and why might be of value.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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What Would It Take?

My Middle Brother sent me a link to part of this large set of files at the FiveThirtyEight Blog.  This is the introduction, written by Ms Simone Landon, a former Senior Editor at 538.

The subject is gun deaths.  Here is the lede paragraph:

More than 33,000 people are shot and killed in the U.S. each year.  What each of these deaths has in common is the use of a gun, yet this is not one problem suffered 33,000 times.  The victims of fatal shootings are diverse, as are the reasons for their deaths, but the national conversation doesn’t allow for much complexity.  And that means that for all the grief and haranguing and calls to action, we’re likely missing opportunities to bring that number down.

After some discussion of the dimensions of the problem Ms Landon encourages us to dive into the data and then ends thusly:

We started this reporting with a simple question:  What would it take to bring down the number of gun deaths in America?  Anti-gun advocates insist tighter restrictions are the only way.  Pro-gun advocates say the weapon is less important than who wields it.  More than 33,000 lives are lost in the middle.  Now that we have some perspective — on the scale of the problem and who is hurt most — we’re closer to understanding where we can have the greatest impact.

If you wish to dive into the data, go to the web page where, in the upper left hand corner, is a "Menu".  Look there.  The first item on the agenda is "Gun Deaths in America".  Start there.

Regards  —  Cliff