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Friday, January 4, 2019

It's All in the Wording

This article in Bloomberg that talks about Brazil's new president pushing to restore his citizen's right to keep and bear arms uses a familiar tactic of the gun ban lobby when it comes to talking about the number of people who die due to firearms.  You see, they don't talk about gun related homicides when they talk about firearm related deaths because if they did, that would cut the number by over half.  According to the CDC, 60% of firearm related deaths are suicide.  They talk about "Gun Deaths" which include suicide.  This is not to say that we should not be concerned with those who would use a firearm to end their own life, but it is a completely different problem than criminal uses of firearms.  But it's how the gun banners can fool the public into believing that the U.S. is at the top of the list and the media gladly uses their talking points.  So, the next time you hear that the U.S. has the highest or second highest number of "gun deaths", be sure to remind those people that the statistic they are using is misleading and needs more explanation.

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