"[S]ince 1968, more Americans have been killed by guns than have been killed on all battlefields throughout the whole of the American experience."
- Sean Payton.
Well, Mr Payton, we happen to have data for this, shall we look?
I'll even be generous and limit it to "died of wounds" through August 11, 2011.
Revolutionary War (1775-83): 6,824.
Indian Wars (1775-1891): 3,000±
War of 1812 (1812-15): 2,260
Texas War of Independence (1835-36): 704
Mexican War (1846-48): 1,733
US Civil War (1861-65): 204,070
Spanish American War (1898): 385
Philippine Insurgency (1899-1902): 1,018
Mexican Expeditions (1914-17): 67
World War One (1917-18): 53,402
Russian Civil War (1918-20): 304
Nicaragua (1926-33): 47
World War Two (1941-45): 291,557
Korean War (1950-53): 33,741
Vietnam War (1965-73): 47,378
Lebanon (1982-84): 273
Gulf War (1990-91): 148
Afghanistan (2001-): 1,360
War on Terror (2001-): 66
Iraq War (2003-): 3,480
651,817 soldiers died of wounds in the American Experience.
Divide that by 49 years and you get 13,302.4 a year. Mr Payton's supposition seems plausible.
Here's the problem I'm finding. How many people were killed with a firearm in 1968?
Politifact claims there have been 1,384,171 people killed by firearms from 1968 through 2011. Roughly twice as many as soldiers who died of wounds. But since this number includes the roughly 60% of firearms deaths that are suicides, we should count the total numbers killed during the war.
Revolutionary War (1775-83): 25,324.
Indian Wars (1775-1891): 4,100±
War of 1812 (1812-15): 19,465
Texas War of Independence (1835-36): 704
Mexican War (1846-48): 13,283
US Civil War (1861-65): 618,222
Spanish American War (1898): 2,446
Philippine Insurgency (1899-1902): 4,234
Mexican Expeditions (1914-17): 67
World War One (1917-18): 116,516
Russian Civil War (1918-20): 572
Nicaragua (1926-33): 136
World War Two (1941-45): 405,399
Korean War (1950-53): 36,568
Vietnam War (1965-73): 58,177
Lebanon (1982-84): 273
Gulf War (1990-91): 383
Afghanistan (2001-): 1,633
War on Terror (2001-): 148
Iraq War (2003-): 4,408
1,312,058 soldiers died in the American Experience.
Heck he's still right. What do you know?
But it's not as bad as all that. Only about 34% of firearms deaths are homicides. 470,618.14 deaths from 1968-2011. Many fewer than war.
This is important to note because firearm availability affects how someone will kill themselves, not if they will kill themselves.
It is also worth noting that if we remove all gang-related murder, the number of homicides in the US drops to something on the order of 2,200 a year or a mere 94,600 for '68-'11.
These paltry sums pale in comparison to what government can do once it decides to take out a demographic.
Click here to submit $0.00 US for a lifetime subscription
Posts
Comments
Also the number of Veteran suicides smacks of double dipping.
ReplyDeleteA combat vet with PTSD punches his clock with a pistol, is that a "gun death" or a "war death"?
This also shows the cultural differences between us and them. We are looking at it as causes of death (and even further you're inferring potential solutions on the human level) they want to ban guns, so that's all they look at. The dead people are simply means to an end.