Researchers found that states such as Montana, Arkansas, Alabama and Idaho, which have the highest rates of state-registered private gun ownership, also have the highest rates of homicide of law enforcement officers. States including Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey experience some of the lowest rates of both police officers killed and gun ownership.
“States should consider methods for reducing firearm ownership as a way to reduce occupational deaths of law enforcement officers,” was the blunt advice from the research paper published online on Thursday by the American Journal of Public Health.
Researchers studied the 782 homicides of police officers between 1996 and 2010 and gun ownership rates state by state using information from the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If we’re interested in protecting police officers, we need to look at what’s killing them, and it’s guns. We know that 92% of police officers killed in the line of duty are killed by guns, three-quarters of which are handguns,” said David Swedler, lead researcher and an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health.
The report also found that it was not a higher crime rate that seemed to contribute to the increased number of officer fatalities, but really gun ownership alone, which is why a place like New York with a pretty active criminal element had fewer officer deaths than did a state like Montana.
Personally I think this is the kind of obvious conclusion that should have been reached long ago, and I would further suggest that it also relates to the number of people killed by police.
American gun culture means that every officer responding to a call has to have it in the back of their minds that they might face an armed assailant. And it is that fear which results in overreactions and unnecessary police shootings.
The idea that more guns means fewer shootings is tantamount to saying that more dogs running loose means less dog shit on the sidewalk.
If we want to really make a change, to really become a "pro-life" nation, we need to severely limit access to hand guns and military style weaponry.
Which states have the most citizens killed by police?
ReplyDeleteRed ones.
DeleteThey aren't really pro-life..they are pro-birth. Just like Trump applauding that 11 year old giving birth to her step-father's spawn..no 11 year old is capable of raising a child. So I suppose Trump is also for food stamps, and free daycare so the little girl can go back to school, etc? Right. He'll brush off that pesky question...let her family raise the baby. Or her church. or anyone but 'the community tax dollars." See, in GOPLAND we are not all in this together, but it's every rich man for himself. Sickening. Hey Donnie, how about you put that billion where it will do some good...Haiti, Nigeria, Appalachia?
ReplyDeleteA study shows that a toilet seat leaves a ring around one's butt when one sits too long.
ReplyDeleteA study shows that tricycles are more stable at a standstill than bicycles.
A study shows that bent nails are more likely to be caused by hammers than hot dog buns.
They really needed a study to find that when more people own guns, more people will get killed by guns, including policemen?
Really?
Who pays for these studies and where can I sign up for some of that easy money?
Gun humpers don't care how many people are killed by guns.
ReplyDeleteThey just don't care.
They are too wedded to their guns. That's all they care about.
So you can't use logic with them. Their guns are everything to them. Everything. It's beyond sick. But that's how they roll.
Politicians are afraid of them. So gun laws will never become more restrictive They will only get looser.
Thanks for this Grif-what about statistic of women and children being killed by guns in domestic situations? Surely a study has been done? I don't know. But bet it's more than policeman. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteLove the dog shit analogy, G.
ReplyDeleteSo where is OSHA and what are they doing to help cops from getting killed because of someone's right to own guns? What an interesting "study". Ask any fifth grader and you'll get the same answers. Guns kill , wow , who knew?
ReplyDeleteOT sort of, Time magazine is doing a story on Philly's police department, they're interviewing cops, people who've been arrested, witnesses, etc We have a serious gun issue, but the police chief does a lot of things right. Rookies start as "beat cops", and they get to know the people in the communities they're sworn to help protect. A lot of training and common sense, communication skills, de escalating volatile situations, and using guns as the last option. And still we have a serious problem with drugs, guns, straw purchases, etc. etc.
All the police officers I know are supporters of gun rights, 2nd ammendment rights.
ReplyDeleteWhat they don't like are criminals and losers.
That picture makes me mad. When cops arbitrarily kill some innocent person on the street, they then treat the bereaved with contempt.
ReplyDeleteOh that is real nice there lib.
Delete