Gun sales surge ahead of jury's Ferguson decision

[KingCharlemagne]

145. I am not a statistician by profession (perhaps in the next life) and I am relying

Last edited Thu Nov 20, 2014, 10:52 PM - Edit history (1)

on some memories of having read an article or story some 5-6 years ago. I no longer remember the provenance of this story, nor do i remember any of the details.

That said, let us say hypothetically that households without fireamrs experience a rate of injury and mortality of one-tenth of one percent (0.1%). That would mean that, in a sample of 100,000 households without firearms, one would expect some 100 deaths or injuries per year from the discharge of firearms. Taking that ratio of 'eight times more likely,' a sample of 100,000 households where firearms are located in the household would expect, all other things being equal, to experience some 800 deaths or injuries per year 04 eight-tenths of one percent (0.8%).

I have no idea whether that hypothetical baseline of one-tenth of one percent is valid, nor do I have any desire to engage in semantic battles with those who favor private ownership of firearms. Suffice it to say that households with firearms are at a sharlply elevated risk of death or injury from firearms discharge.