Do More Guns Really Mean More Safety?

[gejohnston]

5. The article mixes suicides with crime

if suicide by gun is "gun violence" then suicide by rope is "rope violence". The three states with the highest suicide rates Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska, are more rural. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, rural areas are going to have higher suicide rates than urban areas per capita.

If you compare our territories, USVI has stricter gun laws than Hawaii yet has a murder rate worse than Detroit. Guam, which has a FOID system similar to Illinois, a shall issue CCW, has a murder rate similar to Hawaii.

The article is really an exercise in post hoc ergo propter hoc. There are an infinite number of possible reasons. They article is seeing cause and effect in what amounts to coincidence. Wyoming's murder and suicide rate doubled since 2010 even though the gun laws are not that different. I attribute the rise in increased drilling and fracking.

BTW, compare DC and Vermont.