Voting for McCain is one of the strongest correlates to gun deaths.

**Captain Coors** · 01-19-11, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by Thorsen

That's true Coors, but you could in the very same way point to how people who receive treatment for cancer are much more likely to die from cancer than people who don't. It's not that the treatment doesn't work, it's just that if you're receiving treatment for cancer... well... you have cancer. If you're carrying a handgun around, you probably have a reason for it. (Dangerous job, gang member, drug dealer, military, suicidal, intent to murder, steal or assault someone, feel threatened, being stalked, being harassed, etc)

Right but most gun owners face very little chance of needing to use the firearm to defend themselves. They face a higher chance of a weapon accident. So that means they are better off taking the risk of being a victim rather than the risk of having a weapons mishap within your family.

Tying back to the thread topic, I would infer more republicans arm themselves (many unnecessarily if you do a risk assessment, but some out of necessity yes) and are thus more likely to be victims of gun violence. Either from mishaps in the home, or having a false sense of security and behaving in ways that leads them into a higher liklihood of being shot themselves.

**Red_Lizard2** · 01-19-11, 01:56 PM

this is from 2007, but as mentioned in the article (and assuming is including in the numbers I found as well) suicides are including in the gun death stat (as well as accidental shootings etc.) so wanted to check out the suicide rate by state:

Alaska-21.8
Montana-20.5
New Mexico-20.4
Wyoming-19.3
Nevada-18.4
Colorado-16.7
West Vigrinia-16.6
Arizona-16.0
Oregon-15.9
Kentucky-15.3

from wiki, a list of gun homicides per 100k population (2009)

Louisiana-10.13
Maryland-6.95
Mississippi-5.55
Arkansas-4.91
California-4.82
Nevada-4.72
South Carolina-4.64
Illinois-4.59
Michigan-4.55
Arizona-4.54
New Mexico-4.44

AFSP: Facts and Figures: State Statistics
Gun violence in the United States by state - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**WickedTribe** · 01-19-11, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by deputyfestus

guessing - definition of guessing by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

I'm actually a big fan of guns and of Americans' right to own them, more for fear of an overpowered government than for protection from criminals. I do think that as a whole, gun activists are one of the whiniest groups in the US.

**Red_Lizard2** · 01-19-11, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by Captain Coors

Right but most gun owners face very little chance of needing to use the firearm to defend themselves. They face a higher chance of a weapon accident. So that means they are better off taking the risk of being a victim rather than the risk of having a weapons mishap within your family.

Tying back to the thread topic, I would infer more republicans arm themselves (many unnecessarily if you do a risk assessment, but some out of necessity yes) and are thus more likely to be victims of gun violence. Either from mishaps in the home, or having a false sense of security and behaving in ways that leads them into a higher liklihood of being shot themselves.

Wanted to see data on this, so used the previous link, as well as this one (it isn't perfect as one is newer, and this one was 2001, only I could find :/)
It is also a poll, which will likely make the results less accurate.
Gun Ownership by State (washingtonpost.com)

20 gun deaths per 100k, 57.8% own gun--Alaska
31 gd per 100k, 3.8%--District of Columbia
19.5 per 100k, 44.1%--Louisiana
18.8 per 100k, 59.7%--Wyoming
18 per 100k, 31.1%--Arizona
17.3 per 100k, 33.8%-Nevada
17.3 per 100k, 55.3%-Mississippi

The D.C. one is one of the main reasons i don't like having to use a poll, because I would gather that the amount of gun ownership in D.C. is quite higher. Just the people owning them aren't the type to respond to a survey...

On the arming point though, i'd say you inferred correctly looking at the numbers (for the most part). I used wiki (again) to get the top 5 red and blue states and then looked at the previous page (% owning guns) and got this:

Red States
Utah-43.9
Idaho-55.3
Wyoming-59.7
Nebraska-38.6
Alaska-57.8
Oklahoma-42.9

Blue
Massachusetts-12.6
Rhode Island-12.8
New York-18.0
Hawaii-8.7
Vermont-42.0

Red states and blue states - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
method used:

The following classification of red and blue states (as well as purple/battleground states) was determined by compiling the average margins of victory in the five presidential elections between 1992 and 2008.

**deputyfestus** · 01-19-11, 02:43 PM

I'm not a stat savant but some may find this useful info. This breaks homicides down to county and even reason. https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...WKzfhuhA#gid=0