I just wanted to point out to readers that 99.9999% of all privately-held firearms did NOT kill anyone today.
There are between 238,000,000 and 276,000,000 privately-owned, legal firearms in the United States.
On average, 89 people die each day from firearms in the United States. 54% of these are suicides and do not count towards the murder rate.
Even if we include suicides in the calculations (and thereby more than double the instances of firearm deaths), the math adds up to 99.99996% of firearms killing nobody.
If we include injuries, at a total of approximately 267 per day (3 injuries per firearm death), the math adds up to 99.99985% of firearms being handled in perfect safety.
99.99985% safe. That’s a staggeringly good number. Even condoms are only 98% safe and effective, and that assumes perfect use. In actual practice, condoms are only 85% effective. So, actual rate to actual rate, firearms are 99.99985% safe, while condoms are 85% safe.
Going purely by the numbers, the object I trust to safeguard my home and my life is significantly safer than the object that many people trust to safeguard their health, yet people claim that firearms are risky while condoms are “safe”.
*All math assumes “only” 238,000,000 firearms in the US. If the larger estimate is used, the safety percentage for firearms improves. All estimates are taken from anti-gun groups in order to prevent any claims that the numbers used are somehow “biased” in favor of pro-gun groups.
**I do not mean to imply that condoms are unsafe or ineffective. I strongly recommend that anyone who is sexually-active use condoms unless both they and their partner have been tested and they are either seeking to have a child or are using an alternate form of contraception.