Showing posts with label David Hemenway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Hemenway. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

More guns adds up to more suicides


According to the CDC, "Suicide rates have increased in nearly every state over the past two decades, and half of the states have seen suicide rates go up more than 30 percent." And based on "A study by the Harvard School of Public Health of all 50 U.S. states," there is "a powerful link between rates of firearm ownership and suicides." Who would have thought? The Harvard study proclaims, "Guns and suicide: A fatal link" The CDC's "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" found that...
"Guns were the most common method used for suicide, accounting for almost half of the people who died."
These are the kind of facts that have been hidden at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta due to the National Rifle Assn.'s success in ramming legislation through a paid off Congress that has made the information unavailable until now. And "54 percent of the people who killed themselves didn't have a previously known mental health issue, but 50 percent of these did have a gun. The Harvard study also found...
"that in states where guns were prevalent—as in Wyoming, where 63 percent of households reported owning guns—rates of suicide were higher. The inverse was also true: where gun ownership was less common, suicide rates were also lower."
...proving that, in spite of the NRA's proclamation that "guns don't kill, people do," guns do kill, simply because of their availability. The CDC study asserts, "American suicide is predominantly a firearm issue. Anytime we want to resolve something that involves firearms, we've need to talk about firearms explicitly." But that has been impossible up to now due to the fact that the NRA's head gun nut. Wayne LaPierre, will talk of nothing that restricts gun ownership in any way. You have to understand this radical thug actually reps gun manufacturers right to sell as many guns as possible.

The Harvard study adds...
"The lesson? Many lives would likely be saved if people disposed of their firearms, kept them locked away, or stored them outside the home. Says HSPH Professor of Health Policy David Hemenway, the ICRC’s director: 'Studies show that most attempters act on impulse, in moments of panic or despair. Once the acute feelings ease, 90 percent do not go on to die by suicide.'”

Read more: CDC: U.S. Suicide Rates Have Climbed Dramatically
                   Guns and suicide: A fatal link
                 

Suicide rates are up 30 percent since 1999, CDC says

Monday, May 14, 2018

NRA still doesn't want public to know true gun violence statistics


The National Rifle Assn. pushed through the Dickey Amendment in 1996, gun legislation that prevents, "the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using funds 'to advocate or promote gun control.'" Naturally it is in the best interest of this violence promoting organization to keep the true facts from the public. According to Health, "Of the 30 leading causes of death in the United States, gun violence is the least researched." And the Brady organization reports, on an average day 96 people die from gun violence. But the NRA refuses to accept these figures.

I have followed David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center for years and despite the NRA's head gun nut, Wayne LaPierre, he is making progress in documenting and publishing about gun violence. He regularly side-steps the Dickey Amendment which prevents "the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using funds 'to advocate or promote gun control.'" It's a stupid law meant only to hide the facts that gun violence is completely out of control, to keep it all secret so a stupid Congress doesn't have to face the facts.

Actually, gun violence research has proliferated over the past few years thanks to people like David Hemenway and with the help of universities, think tanks and private philanthropy. Even states like California are beginning to recognize the problem and then "governors from six northeastern states and Puerto Rico announced plans to launch a research consortium to study the issue. "A gun in the home increases the risk of someone in that home dying from suicide maybe threefold, and the evidence is overwhelming," Hemenway says. The NRA, and the public, must face up to these facts.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Study says Florida shooter could have shot Trayvor Martin simply because the watch captain was armed

The new study done by James Brockmole of the University of Notre Dame and psychologist Jessica Witt at Perdue University asks the question: “Could the watch captain have been fooled into thinking the youth was armed in part because he himself was holding a gun?”  According to The Washington Post, undergraduates at Notre Dame and Perdue were prone to think others were holding a weapon if they were holding a toy gun themselves.

The study was done long before the shooting but Brockmole says it is possible that George Zimmerman’s (the watch captain) perception might “…have been skewed by being armed.  Brockmole also admits that race may have been a factor (Zimmerman is Hispanic), and “Past research suggests that people can be more likely to perceive a poorly seen object as a gun if it’s held by a black person than by a white person, experts say.”

The study will be published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, and Brockmole states, it is “…not intended to support gun control, but it suggests that people should know that when they hold a gun “that might change how you’re going to interpret what’s around you.”  Zimmerman was protected by a 2005 Florida law—“Stand Your Ground”—that allows him to respond with deadly force if he thinks he is threatened.

Legal analysts say the law is one reason why Zimmerman has not been arrested.  With no additional eye witnesses, they have to take the watch captain’s word.  About half the states in the U.S. have this law, which is now being questioned by law enforcement and lawmakers.  Before the above law, a self-defense claim would not have been possible since Zimmerman would have been required to just back off.  Something everyone agrees he could have done in this case.




But then back in 2011, another study was done by David Hemenway who is Director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and the Youth Violence Prevention Center titled: Guns in the home provide greater health risk than benefit.  Right up front I will tell you that Hemenway is considered “anti-guns” by the National Rifle Assn. (NRA).  This is primarily homebound research and does not really deal with the issue of when the gun leaves the home.

Hemenway says, “When it comes to violence, nearly every figure suggests that increased presence of guns correlates with higher levels of injury and death.”  He cites homicide rates that are 14 times higher than those in most other industrialized nations for those between 15 and 24 years of age in the U.S.  Areas throughout the country with high gun ownership have more problems.  For every accidental death, 10 more go to the emergency room.


Murder crime scene

Other findings include, “In the case of battered women, lethal assaults were 2.7 times more likely to occur if a gun was present in the house; no protective effect of the gun was found.”  And in the case of George Zimmerman in the Fla. Shooting, Hemenway says, “Unlike deaths or woundings, where the definitions are clear and one needs to only count the bodies, what constitutes a self-defense gun use and whether it was successful may depend on who is telling the story."

The study’s author does say that “Results suggest that self-defense gun use may be the best method for preventing property loss."  Further he states, “using a gun in self-defense is extremely rare (most instances involve using a gun to defend against animals): studies place defensive gun use at about one percent in home invasions and 0.1 percent in sexual assaults. Moreover, police reports suggest a lot of these uses involved inappropriate use of the gun.”


Irresponsible gun owners

In summary, “Hemenway notes that a number of surveys have found that a gun kept at home is far more likely to be used in violence, an accident, or a suicide attempt than self defense.”  He also talks about poorly trained gun owners that probably won’t do a good job of protection in self defense, surmising “there's little doubt that a gun at home is generally a negative risk factor.”

And I agree with the article’s author, John Timmer, that, regardless of which side you are on, these are interesting findings that should be looked at for their usefulness in trying to help solve the gun issues.  The other side—which I will no doubt quickly hear from—must at least consider these studies in order to make an intelligent rebuttal.

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