I'm currently working on compiling statistics to try to the MMM for the liars they are, here in Michigan.  The most recent information I came across shows that more people die a year because they got the wrong prescription than die due to handguns.

I haven't finished compiling all the info on the subject but it boils down to 7,000 a year die from bad prescriptions and 6,498 die from handguns.

Hi Steve, try this site:
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/welcome.html
might help RON

Thanks a lot, I'm a pharmacist.  I will not insult your intelligence by saying no one makes mistakes.  We try our best to take care of each patient: interceding between pt. and physician, between physician & physician (many MD's don't  know what other MD's have prescribed etc), watch for drug-drug interactions, drug allergies, etc., etc., etc. But I would implore anyone seeking medical care to be willing to be involved and contribute to their own care; such as asking MD questions (make a list before  you see him), inquire what the  prescription  if used for, how long should I be on this medication etc.  Ask your pharmacist questions: Why am I taking this, side effects?, why does my medicine look different this time (if it does) etc. ----- be involved, take charge.
Don't get the  wrong idea, I'm pro-gun all the way, just had to respond to bad Rx stats.
      Thanks,
         L.P.

I beg to differ, handguns don't cause death.

Shazbat,
  I totally agree. Handguns don't kill people, people kill people. I might even support a MMM if they were doing to get rid of the idiots of the world.

-Jared

On that subject it is also a proven fact that more children have died drowning in buckets of water(buckets of water mind you not swimming pools)than have they with handguns.
-GOOSE

Steve, more stuff



www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/fidc9397.txt


Highlights

*  Of serious nonfatal violent victimizations, 28% were committed
with a firearm, 4% were committed with a firearm and resulted in
injury, and less than 1% resulted in gunshot wounds.

*  The number of gunshot wounds from assaults treated in hospital
emergency departments fell from 64,100 in 1993 to 39,400 in 1997,
a 39% decline. Homicides committed with a firearm fell from 18,300
in 1993 to 13,300 in 1997, a 27% decline.

*  Almost half of the victims of both fatal and nonfatal gunshot
wounds from crime were black males. About a quarter were black
males ages 15 to 24.

*  Over half the victims of nonfatal gunshot wounds from crime
were younger than 25. Older victims were more frequent in the
homicide statistics.


Juveniles (persons under age 18) accounted for 16% of the victims
of nonfatal gunshot wounds from crime and 10% of the firearm
homicide victims.  Thirty-five percent of the victims of nonfatal
gunshot wounds from crime and 24% of the homicide victims were
under 21 years of age.

Homicide offenders are also likely to be young. According to the
Supplementary Homicide Reports from 1993 to 1997, 60% of the offenders
who used a firearm to commit murder were younger than 25; 17% were
juveniles and 24% were between ages 18 and 20. (The Youth Handgun
Safety Act of 1994 prohibits possession of handguns by anyone under
18, and under the Gun Control Act of 1968 it is unlawful for federally
licensed firearms dealers to sell handguns to persons under 21.)

Goose870x, I heard the same thing, but I never heard where the statistics came from.  I'd like to know.

Swire, don't forget how many people take prescription medicine every day.  More than shoot a gun every day.  Also don't forget that we'd be in some pretty bad shape without prescription medication.

That doesn't make gun control OK, but people may not see the salience of your argument if the comparison is lost upon them.

Maybe a better way to refute them would be to poke holes in their stats.  There is a book of essays called "Guns in America" and it's full of arguments from both sides of the issue, and some from the middle.  It is full of great information, including little-known facts about the famous Kellerman study, which is the backbone of HCI's stats.

HEY!  That was #200!

Wooooo Hooooooo!

Where's my brownie button?!?!

Cible-I got it out of Ted Nugents Book GOD,GUNS,and Rock n Roll I read it and recremend it to everybody its a good book with good facts in it although it dont have much of a plot!
-GOOSE-

SWIRE - I'm doing a report for school on gun control right now; but I havent seen that statistic on the wrong prescription.  Where did you find that?  I would like to include that as one of my stats...