CA Guns Sales Up, Gun Deaths Down

[olds]

That can't be, don't more guns equal more deaths?!
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/27/5079151/california-gun-sales-increase.html

Gun deaths and injuries have dropped sharply in California, even as the number of guns sold in the state has risen, according to new state data.

Dealers sold 600,000 guns in California last year, up from 350,000 in 2002, according to records of sale tallied by the California Attorney General's office.

During that same period, the number of California hospitalizations due to gun injuries declined from about 4,000 annually to 2,800, a roughly 25 percent drop, according to hospital records collected by the California Department of Public Health.

Firearm-related deaths fell from about 3,200 annually to about 2,800, an 11 percent drop, state health figures show.

Most of the drop in firearm-related injuries and deaths can be explained by a well-documented, nationwide drop in violent crime.

The number of California injuries and deaths attributed to accidental discharge of firearms also has fallen. The number of suicide deaths involving firearms has remained roughly constant.

Two caveats: State figures track gun sales, not ownership. They treat a family's first gun purchase the same as a collector's twelfth. Second, gun sales in California peaked in the early 1990s, as violent crime also peaked.

 

[techs]

Crime, including gun death has been declining for many years now. Regardless of gun sales.

What does seem to be increasing is the number of people shot by the "lone gunman" who uses mulitple guns with multiple clips.

Most new guns sales, from what I have read, is going to first time buyers who get them for home defense and are rarely fired and usually just stored in the home.

 

[Lithium381]

but gun owners only think of murdering in cold blood. . . that's what they do. . . i mean that's the only reason to buy a gun right? is to murder? i mean we've got 300,000+ guns in the state and 3000 gun deaths? that can't be right. . .

 

[BoomerD]

http://www.modbee.com/2012/12/28/2511591/modesto-man-becomes-stocktons.html

STOCKTON -- Authorities said today that a 25-year-old Modesto man became the 71st homicide victim of the year in Stockton after he was shot late Thursday.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department identified Anthony Gutierrez as the man who was struck by gunfire about 11 p.m. Thursday in north Stockton.

Stockton police said Gutierrez was shot in the 5400 block of Audrey Drive.

Stockton police officers arrived at the scene and discovered Gutierrez injured on the street in front of a duplex.

Gutierrez was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

It’s Stockton first homicide since Dec. 15, according to The (Stockton) Record newspaper.

For those who aren't familiar with Stockton, it's a small city (~300K) in California's Central Valley.