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From The Washington Post:
The survey's findings support other research showing that as overall rates of gun ownership has declined, the number of firearms in circulation has skyrocketed. The implication is that there are more guns in fewer hands than ever before. The top 3 percent of American adults own, on average, 17 guns apiece, according to the survey's estimates.
Interesting. Lawyers, guns, and money! Which of these has the smallest percentage and largest absolute amount? Of course, the other major shift the survey reveals is in the rationale for owning firearms: currently, a majority of owners cite personal protection as their motivation, prior to the 1990's the majority owned guns for sport.
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Three Percent own Half of America’s Guns
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Fascinating is a word I use for the unexpected.
-- Spock, "The Squire of Gothos", stardate 2124.5
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @10:08AM
It also turned out that people who drink water are significantly more often found to be thirsty than people who don't drink water. So in order to fight thirst, I suggest banning water.
Or in short: Correlation != Causation
If you plan to commit suicide, you're going to get a means of committing suicide. A gun is a reliable means of committing suicide. Therefore if you plan to commit suicide and guns are easy to come by, the probability is high that you'll acquire a gun. This implies that at the time you commit suicide you are likely to be a gun owner (the other alternative is you got access to a gun you don't own).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @11:17AM
Sort of, but suicide is very rarely carefully planned in advance. It is commonly a spur-of-the-moment, emotional, "I can't take it any more" thing.
If such a suicidal person has an easy means of suicide at hand, such as a gun, they're likely to use it then and there. If it takes time and effort to commit suicide (eg. walking to a bridge), then they get time to alter their emotional state, and can have a more considered mental state at the moment of truth.
Time heals all wounds, but a gun takes no time at all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @12:58PM
I don't think sleeping pills take more time to use than a gun. And I guess most suicidal people, including those who use a gun to commit it, already have sleeping pills, since whatever drives them into suicide probably has caused them sleepless nights for a while.