Well, the WP definitely ain't conservative. On a scale from 1to 10 with 1 being liberal loons and 10 being common sense conservative, I'd say they rate a solid 2.3/10.
rsvman in 2008 that 83% of gun fatalities in the home were from suicide. Guns were mainly purchased for protection.
Jus imagine, if guns were out of the picture, then this would likely read:
in 2008 that 83% of rope fatalities in the home were from suicide. Ropes were mainly purchased for securing objects.
In a court of law, that statement would be disallowed. Pure speculation, at best.
Pills
Gas ovens
Slit wrists
carbon monoxide
etc.
Many ways to off oneself without a gun. A gun leaves you no chance to change your mind, or give you a second chance.
I once read about a man in Indiana that committed suicide with a claw hammer. At first, the police suspected murder, as he had been hit in the head 21 times!! Coroner confirmed suicide.
Which statement?
Par4QC , or give you a second chance.
Not all suicides attempted with guns are successful. Occasionally, there are folks that can't even get that right and end up missing and leave themselves as a vegetable or barely wounded. Stranger things have happened.
It’s really hard to find non-biased fact finding any more. I have my opinions on why that is, but it’s only an opinion, and we all know what they say about opinions.......
FYI with private discussions, you can create a post with a few members and carry on the debate there. Since it seems only a few of you are going back and forth here. 
Just for comparison to a couple of other 'civilized' countries. Americans are 96 times more likely to die by gun than is someone from Japan. And 32 times more likely than Germany. These numbers exclude suicides, accidents and armed conflict.
El Salvador has the highest gun deaths per 100,000 at 40.29. Singapore has the lowest at 0.03 per 100,000. The United States has the 31st highest rate in the world at 3.85 per 100,000.
Source. University of Washington Institute for Health, Metrics and Evaluation. 2016 numbers.
Sneakylong Do you think it's a sense of "control" over our own lives? For example, while I'm statistically more likely to die in a car than a plane, I still feel safer in a car. I feel like if something bad happens, I will have a chance to prevent or reduce the loss of life. I can try to mitigate the accident.
Likewise, I feel like with a pistol at home I have a chance in the event of a violent home invasion. I feel that the guys invading my home don't care about gun laws (since they're happy to break the law regarding unlawful entry.)
I believe that non-career-criminals would kill less if guns were less available. Crimes of passion, for example, could be diminished. But the guys who go out planning to commit violent crimes? I feel like they're going to be armed regardless. If I'm armed too it's still going to be bad, but I've got a chance, right?
Except for the fact that statistically having a gun in your home makes you or someone around you more unsafe.
Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.
Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
• 43 percent of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger
Just saw where there's a bipartisan bill in congress to ban these rapid fire bump stocks. You'd think that would be a common sense thing to do.
But as we know common sense takes a backseat when it comes to gun safety laws. It'll be interesting to see if the gun manufacturing lobby (NRA) is willing to go along with this.
Sneakylong I believe you. That's why I used the car/plane analogy. I feel safer in the car even though I'm in, statistically, greater danger.
So the belief has to be that I'm smarter than the statistics. I have no kids, and we rarely have visitors but when we do the gun is locked up. I guess if I was inclined to kill someone else or myself the gun would make it easier.
In a home invasion situation, am I more or less safe with my gun? Knowing that the invaders are most likely armed, would I be better off not having a gun?
I would rather live in a world without guns. I would support effective gun control, but I haven't seen any good ideas about keeping guns away from the worst people. I sure don't want the bad guys to be the only ones who have them.
Human trafficking is highly illegal, right? Doesn't that still happen all over the world? Guns don't even need to eat or go to the bathroom. Hard to imagine anyone can remove guns from the hands of the bad folks.
ZWExton Hard to imagine anyone can remove guns from the hands of the bad folks.
That's because it can't be done.
Even if, somehow, someway, it was possible... the criminals would find another way to kill.
jrock No need to make it private. Most of us here are adults. If some folks can keep the death threats to a minimum, everyone will get along fine.
"Suppose a criminal has just broken into your house brandishing a firearm. You need to protect yourself and your family. Wouldn’t anyone feel safer owning a gun? This is the kind of narrative propagated by gun advocates in defense of firearm ownership. It preys on our fear. Yet, the annual per capita risk of death during a home invasion is 0.0000002, which, for all intents and purposes, is zero."
JeffTilley it's no use. They can find a website written by a stupid liberal for every website you post authored by a knowledgeable conservative.
The only thing that makes any sense is the fact that criminals are always going to have their guns. All I know, is that when someone comes in the door with a gun whether I'm at home, at the grocery store, a movie, or anywhere in between, I want to have a fair shake in determining whether I live or die. You'd think that'd be elementary, but apparently it is not.
In 2007, former cop and volunteer security worker, Jeanne Assam, saved the day at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Thousands of people were exiting from Sunday mass that day as the shooter opened fire. However, Assam ran toward the line of fire, killing the shooter and saving countless lives.
An 18-year-old mother saved the life of herself and her baby in Blanchard, Oklahoma. There, a knife-wielding intruder was attempting to enter Sarah McKinley's mobile home shortly after her husband died of lung cancer in 2012. After breaking in, McKinley fired, killing one suspect and scaring the other intruder off.
A 71-year-old man saved the lives of many at an internet cafe in Florida in 2012. When robbers entered the cafe with weapons, Samuel Williams pulled out his gun and scared off the suspects.
... and many more...
