For women, guns in the home prove especially deadly

[alp227]

So much for the argument that a gun in the house makes you safer. And it’s especially not true for women.

Atlantic Cities has a roundup piece Monday of recent studies of gun ownership and violence. It concludes that women living in homes in which guns are present are at much higher risk of being shot — most often by a spouse or partner — than women in homes without gun access. The most recent study is in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and its overall conclusion is direct: “Access to firearms is associated with risk for completed suicide and being the victim of homicide.”

According to the study, there is a pronounced risk for a woman being the victim of a firearm homicide if she lives in a home in which guns are present. And often the shooting is accompanied by the suicide or attempted suicide of the shooter, most often a spouse or partner.

Or more succinctly, having a gun in ready reach turns domestic violence more deadly while doing little to dissuade either the attacker or a prospective home-invasion robber. From the study:

The annual rate of suicide by firearms (6.3 suicides per 100,000 residents) is higher in the United States than in any other country with reported data, and the annual rate of firearm-related homicide in the United States (7.1 homicides per 100,000 residents) is the highest among high-income countries. Results from ecological studies suggest that state restrictions on firearm ownership are associated with decreases in firearm-related suicides and homicides.

Specific characteristics about storage and types of firearms seem to increase suicide risk. Firearms that are stored loaded or unlocked are more likely to be used than those that are unloaded or locked, and adolescent suicide victims often use an unlocked firearm in the home. The apparent increased risk for suicide associated with firearms in the home is not unique to persons with a history of mental illness and may be more of an indicator of the ease of impulsive suicide.

full: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-guns-women-increased-risk-of-being-shot-studies-20140224,0,6025129.story

On the LAT Facebook, the crazies have taken over the asylum:

Check your history. The first thing Hitler did was disarm Jews. Any nation that has experienced genocide, the first step has always been to disarm citizens. I say it's time for a divorce. Let's split America in half. The Libs on one side, Conservatives on the other. You run your side the way you want, we'll do ours the same. So sick and tired of bogus Liberal ideology.

...meanwhile in the Ukraine, government snipers are picking off unarmed citizens....my rights to shoot back trump anyones else's fear of guns

There wouldnt even BE an America if the people here didnt have guns,you idiot. Homicides??So you think if they take away guns,people will stop killing each other??Do you even think about what you write??

Back in '07, Pat Bagley drew a TL;DR version of this editorial:

[libodem]

1. Idaho is going for a guns on campus bill

The big push is that women taking night classes need to carry concealed to make it to their cars without being raped. Looks like it's going yo fly.

[ileus]

4. Empowering women...a very progressive idea.

[ileus]

2. My DW has her own PPD, AR and MKII.

Of course the best thing she has going for her is her super great husband that doesn't drink, do drugs, or have an ill temper.


Of course she also lives by the old refuse to be a victim mindset.

[gejohnston]

3. ER docs pretending to be scientists

Has this study been peer reviewed, and has the results been replicated by a third party? If not, doesn't matter. It is a safe bet that it isn't because most of these gun studies in medical journals are junk. Most pundits and op ed writers are usually kind of stupid and intellectually dishonest, so I question the writer's ability to accurately explain the study.

The annual rate of suicide by firearms (6.3 suicides per 100,000 residents) is higher in the United States than in any other country with reported data, and the annual rate of firearm-related homicide in the United States (7.1 homicides per 100,000 residents) is the highest among high-income countries. Results from ecological studies suggest that state restrictions on firearm ownership are associated with decreases in firearm-related suicides and homicides.

"suggest" doesn't mean anything, given that one only looks at which states have the higher murder rates are also the drug hubs. Granted, Mexico's firearms related murders are 20 percent, but their murder rate is still astronomical.
Notice it qualifies as "firearms related". What the article is really saying, is that saving a life is less important than the means. The study doesn't say anything about suicide prevention, only the means.

[DonP]

8. But, but, but ... it has cartoons!

That must mean that the gun control people are morally far superior to all gun owners and smarter too. At least they act that way all the time.

Can't get jack or shit done to support their beliefs but they feel superior.

[Tumbulu]

5. Well this is a big duhhh

like isn't this obvious? Who in their right mind thinks a gun in the house is a good idea?

Seriously, they need to all be gone.

And within the decade they will be. I have no doubt as the younger generation will get rid of them as our generation has marginalized smoking.

[gejohnston]

9. gun culture 2.0

folks like my son and his fellow programmers at the Apple app company where he works, who believe in equality for everyone and want their guns too.
http://www.americangunculturereport.com/
http://www.mrcolionnoir.com/right-to-carry/gun-culture-2-0/

[hack89]

12. My two contributions to the younger generation would disagree

youth shooting programs are going strong where I live - and we are talking about New England, not some red state.

[beevul]

14. Roughly 100 million people in America.

"Who in their right mind thinks a gun in the house is a good idea?"

Roughly 100 million people in America.

And they remember. And they vote.

[NYC_SKP]

6. Michael Ramirez penned this editorial cartoon just over a year ago...

[alp227]

11. somebody posted that on the LAT facebook. but this would be pwned,

if someone replaced the raw numbers with % of incidents involving these objects resulting in death. the rate for guns should be higher than the hammers, etc.

[gejohnston]

13. that is incidents resulting in death

suicides are not prevented by simply removing the means and the number of firearms accidents are so low that the number percentage is negligible.

[ManiacJoe]

7. Proper storage of firearms is a good thing.

[NYC_SKP]

10. Piece of shit and, actually, sexist study. "In the Home" is not the same as "In the Hand".

In the Home ≠ In the Hand.

Or in the purse, or in the car, or in the control of.

I dare them to reconduct this study including these variables.

Bullshit in, bullshit out.

[gejohnston]

15. Just saying

http://www.nature.com/news/publishers-withdraw-more-than-120-gibberish-papers-1.14763