Death By Gun Now Higher In 10 States Than Death By Car

There are a great many alarming statistics about shootings in America which illustrate the dangers that guns and their lax regulation pose to our safety.  These statistics come from scholarly, peer-reviewed articles in distinguished science and crime journals, or from careful governmental studies at the state or federal levels.  The pro-gun side practically never has statistics to counter these.

And yet, when I and other advocates of sensible gun regulation have rolled out these statistics, and the gun guys have nowhere to turn in their attempt to discredit them, they inevitably turn to a red herring argument which basically boils down to this:  "Yes, those gun death stats are awful, but vehicular deaths are worse, so we should ignore the gun stats unless you want to ban all cars," or some such false argument meant to derail the debate. 

Consider the following, from a February 2011 Oregon Public Broadcasting radio show, with a debate between Penny Okamoto, executive director of Ceasefire Oregon, and Kevin Starrett, executive director of the extremist organization, Oregon Firearms Federation, which I blogged on previously:

[host] Emily Harris then goes on to mention one comment on their blog comparing gun deaths to deaths by cars, suggesting "car" and "gun" could be used interchangeably in conversation.

Starrett once again sees little difference:  "I think there is an important parallel here.  Cars kill far more people than guns do, and yet if on the many occasions, daily occasions, when we hear of people being killed in car accidents, many of which were caused by gross negligence by people or teenagers drinking or that kind of thing -- in the wake of a story like that, you would never invite a representative from AAA to come on and defend car ownership."  Later adding, "You wouldn't see me coming and demanding that Penny give up her driver's license."

Okamoto responded, "It's a parallel that is pulled out only when it's useful.  Guns are made to kill people.  Cars are not.  Cars are basically for transportation.  Sometimes people do die in car accidents.  One of the reasons that the number of people dying in car accidents has decreased is because so many people have worked on making cars safer and making people safer drivers.  The gun lobby doesn't work on making guns safer. ... There's no license, no registration, no requirement for training [for guns].  Anyone can buy a gun from anyone in Oregon.  You don't have to be a licensed firearms dealer."  Then, as a further analogy, she adds, "And there's an interesting parallel that wishes to be made.  If we put children in car seats when they're in cars, then why can't we have some type of law that prevents children from gaining access to weapons, or more preferably, makes gun owners more responsible.  If you have a gun, you own it, and some child accesses it, you're responsible.  You have to be a responsible gun owner."

I would also add that the overwhelming majority of deaths in cars is due to accidents, not homicides or suicides, whereas the reverse is true for guns.

On my long list of topics to pursue, I have long wanted to do a deep dive into the statistics.  What little I've done haven't looked good for the gun lobby.  Add to this that the number of fatal shootings are rising, ever so slightly, despite reducing numbers of gun owners, while fatal driving accidents are decreasing, despite increases in the number of drivers.

Today the ViolencePolicy Center announced a new report, which illustrates my point quite nicely.  Gun-related deaths now outpace car-related deaths in 10 states.  From a press release:

A new Violence Policy Center (VPC) state-by-state analysis of government data comparing firearm deaths and motor vehicle deaths shows that gun deaths outpaced motor vehicle deaths in 10 states in 2009, the most recent year for which state level data is available.  The 10 states which experienced more firearm deaths than motor vehicle deaths in 2009 are: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and Washington (see alphabetical listing of states with mortality figures below).  Nationally, there were 31,236 firearm deaths in 2009 and 36,361 motor vehicle deaths according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Here is a link to that report:  http://www.vpc.org/studies/gunsvscars.pdf

Here is a breakdown of the numbers, from that report:

Here is an informative graph which shows nationwide numbers of car-related deaths is falling in recent years, almost down to the number of gun-related deaths, which is rising slightly:

Excerpts from the report:

In 2010, the number of fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes continued their steady decline for a total of 35,080.b This drop took place despite a significant increase in the number of miles Americans drove.c

More than 90 percent of American households own a cari while fewer than a third of American households contain a gun.j And yet, if charted out year-by-year as seen in the graph on the prior page, deaths nationwide from these two consumer products are on a trajectory to intersect.

The report goes on to comment on the large number of safety improvements and regulations of cars (such as seat belts and seat belt laws, shatter-resistant windshields, speed restrictions, child seats, etc.) which have greatly reduced deaths by car, yet there has been no such safety regulation of guns and ammo, and regulation of guns remains very lax.

I urge you to visit the link and read the report for yourself, but here I will post, verbatim, the conclusion from the report:

Ten states already experience gun death rates that exceed their motor vehicle-related death rates. If current trends continue, the number of states where gun deaths outpace motor vehicles deaths will only increase.

The historic drop in motor vehicle deaths illustrates how health and safety regulation can reduce deaths and injuries that were at one time thought to be unavoidable.

Such an approach to injury prevention has been applied to every product Americans come into contact with every day—except for guns. And as is the case with motor vehicles, health and safety regulation could reduce deaths and injuries associated with firearms.

Comprehensive regulation of the firearms industry and its products could include: minimum safety standards (i.e., specific design standards and the requirement of safety devices); bans on certain types of firearms such as “junk guns” and military-style assault weapons; limits on firepower; restrictions on gun possession by those convicted of a violent misdemeanor; heightened restrictions on the carrying of loaded guns in public; improved enforcement of current laws restricting gun possession by persons with histories of domestic violence; more detailed and timely data collection on gun production, sales, use in crime, involvement in injury and death; and, public education about the extreme risks associated with exposure to firearms.

America is reaping the benefits of decades of successful injury prevention strategies on its highways, but continues to pay an unacceptable, yet equally preventable, price in lives lost every year to gun violence.

Here is a related article on this study, published by the Tucson Sentinal.  VPC executive director, Kristen Rand, is quoted in the article:

"Americans are reaping the benefits of smart safety regulation of motor vehicles. The idea that gun deaths exceed motor vehicle deaths in 10 states is stunning when one considers that 90 percent of American households own a car while fewer than a third own firearms," said the group's legislative director, Kristen Rand.

"It is also important to consider that motor vehicles—unlike guns—are essential to the functioning of the entire U.S. economy. It is time to end firearms’ status as the last unregulated consumer product," she said.

UPDATE (6/12/12):  A good related article, with excellent statistics, by "Art on Issues": http://www.artonissues.com/2012/06/guns-vs-cars-would-you-send-your-child-there/.

UPDATE (10/10/12):  Gun Deaths have now surpassed death by automobile in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (= "DMV"):  http://www.vpc.org/press/1210dmv.htm .  From that link:

The analysis, which uses the most recent complete data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, reveals that in 2010--

• Gun deaths in the DMV totaled 1,512 while motor vehicles deaths totaled 1,280. 

• In the District of Columbia there were 99 firearm deaths reported in 2010, 84 of which were identified as homicides and 13 of which were identified as suicides. That same year, there were 38 motor vehicle deaths in the District. 

• In Maryland, there were 538 firearm deaths reported in 2010, 306 of which were identified as homicides and 222 of which were identified as suicides. That same year, there were 514 motor vehicle deaths in the state. 

• In Virginia, there were 875 firearm deaths reported in 2010, 271 of which were identified as homicides, 576 of which were identified as suicides, and 13 of which were identified as unintentional deaths. That same year, there were 728 motor vehicle deaths in the state.

Nationally, there were 31,672 firearm deaths reported in 2010. That same year there were 35,498 motor vehicle deaths nationwide.

UPDATE (5/13/13):  A related article about Washington State's gun death statistics topping those from cars.

UPDATE (4/8/15):  Another state, Tennessee, has also joined the ranks of states with higher gun deaths than automobile deaths, bringing the total now to at least 18 states. From the article:

"The analysis found that in 2013, there were 17 states where there were more gun deaths than motor vehicle deaths: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming, along with the District of Columbia," the center said in a news release sent out Tuesday. "More than 90 percent of American households own a car while fewer than a third of American households have a gun.

"Americans' exposure to motor vehicles vastly outweighs their exposure to firearms. Yet nationwide, there were 33,636 gun deaths and 35,612 motor vehicle deaths in 2013."

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March Against Gun Violence 2012

At the head of the march along the river. (photo by Jasmine Rose Penter)

Mayor Piercy speaks.
(photo by Jasmine Rose Penter)

For the 13th year in a row, ever since the first march, Million Mom March sponsored an annual Mother's Day march and rally against gun violence in Eugene, Oregon, on May 13.  Ceasefire Oregon was once again a sponsor, along with various peace groups, including WAND, CALC, and Veterans for Peace.

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day.  It was sunny and warm.  Perfect for meeting in an outdoor rally and marching in solidarity for a nonviolent community.

This year, as with all other years, we were once again graced by the presence of Eugene's mayor, Kitty Piercy, who just yesterday won another term as mayor.  She is also a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.  Mayor Piercy gave a great speech to the 80 or so participants in the event, speaking about how the values of Mother's Day -- security and nurturing -- are represented in the values of peace and non-violence.  Having a gun in the home is contrary to the safety of your family, despite the false sense of power a gun gives you.  A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to harm you than to protect you.*

Participating in the rally, next to the Willamette River
(photo by Jasmine Rose Penter)

I spoke next, mentioning how all gun sales should have mandatory background checks (private sales in Oregon require no background check, ID, or paperwork, so anyone can buy a gun regardless of their violent past, no questions asked), the importance of having a Child Access Protection law (which decrease deaths of children by 23% in states that have such a law**), and how guns should be kept out of schools.

The main organizer, Betsy Steffensen, is an incredible lady who is involved with every peace group in the area and has been an organizer with MMM since the beginning.

Wiley, from Veterans for Peace, plays bagpipes at
the head of the march (photo by Russell Elsevier)

All three local news stations were there and featured the event in the night's newscasts.  Here are links to two of them, with videos:

From KMTR:  http://www.kmtr.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=3490615&navCatId=19833

From KEZI:  http://kezi.com/news/local/246497

Once the speeches were over, we marched along the Willamette River trail to the Owen Rose Garden, a couple miles away, passing crowds of families enjoying the parks and bike trail along the way.

We'll do it again next year.  Please join us.

(photo by Russell Elsevier)

* Kellermann, Arthur L.MD, MPH, et al. “Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home.” Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection, and Critical Care 45 (1998): 263-67

** Cummings, Peter, David C. Grossman, Frederick P. Rivara, Thomas D. Koepsell (1997). "State Gun Safe Storage Laws and Child Mortality Due to Firearms". Journal of the American Medical Association 278 (13): 1084–1086.

Not A Happy Mother's Day for 30K Mothers Each Year

Today is Mother's Day in America.  But while most Mother's will be getting cards, gifts, and phone calls from their loving children, 30,000 every year will instead have only memories, thanks to the violence wrought by guns in this country, not counting adult children, through murders, suicides, and accidents.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Please watch this appeal from one mother who lost her child this year to a senseless shooter:  Sybrina Fulton, mother to Trayvon Martin, gunned down by a vigilante in Florida:

A quote from the video, by Mrs. Fulton: 

Just like me, this year 30,000 mothers lost their children this year to senseless gun violence.  Nobody can bring our children back, but it would bring us comfort if we can help spare other mothers the pain that we would feel on Mother's Day, and every day of our lives.

We may not be able to bring their children back, but we can support them. That’s why I’m helping gather signatures for a special Mothers’ Day card for Trayvon’s mom, and every mother mourning a child killed by gun violence this year."

Please sign a special Mothers’ Day card for Trayvon Martin’s mom -- and we’ll deliver it to her on Sunday with your name.

Help reduce the numbers of grieving mothers by supporting mandatory safe gun storage (Child Access Protection laws), gun safety education, supporting the ASK campaign, and mandatory background checks for ALL gun sales, to name just a few ways.

As for me, I'm spending part of today leading an annual march and rally against gun violence, in Eugene, Oregon, sponsored by Million Mom March and Ceasefire Oregon.

And what are the gun guys doing instead?  Making shooting targets resembling Trayvon Martin. Sick.

It's time to make a new trajectory for this nation to follow.

Happy Mother's Day.

My Op Ed in the Register-Guard Newspaper: Hard to believe, but guns are legal in schools

As I've reported before, the extremist pro-gun lobby here in Oregon is pushing to allow hidden, loaded handguns to be carried into grade schools and college campuses.  They have already bullied the Newberg school system into reversing their no-gun policy.  Guns and schools don't mix.  There is no good reason why any non-law enforcement person needs to carry there.

To that point, yesterday I had an op-ed published in the local newspaper, the Register-Guard.  Here is a link:
http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/28034798-47/gun-guns-schools-oregon-concealed.html.csp

Here is the text of the essay, in full:

People I’ve talked to are shocked to find out there’s no law against people bringing concealed, loaded handguns onto school campuses if they have a concealed handgun license in Oregon. 

Most schools have policies prohibiting guns on school property, but a recent Oregon Court of Appeals ruling has raised questions about their enforceability — and because most laws relating to guns must be approved by the Oregon Legislature and not by municipalities or other units of local government, those school policies prohibiting guns might not be binding. It is time for the state Legislature to address the issue. 

Incidents have happened. This March, in Walsenburg, Colo., a volunteer track coach with a concealed handgun license was on school grounds when he accidentally shot himself with his recently purchased handgun, nearly dying. Last September, a security guard here in Oregon lost his gun while patrolling schools in the Salem-Keizer School District. As far as I know, the gun was never recovered. In both cases, the gun was legal on school grounds. 

Thankfully, most concealed handgun license holders are trustworthy, law-abiding citizens, and will honor existing school policies. Perhaps that is the reason we have few incidents involving guns in Oregon schools. 

But if the gun lobby has its way, this will probably change. The gun lobby is pushing for schools to change their no-gun policies and is actively encouraging people to ignore school policies. It argues that having guns in schools will allow better protection against armed madmen. 

According to an April 27 Register-Guard article, roughly one in 25 Lane County residents now choose to arm themselves in public with a concealed handgun license, believing that having a gun hidden under their jacket or in their purse makes them safer. Never mind that research published in a November 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health found that carrying a gun actually increases your chance of getting shot by four and a half times. 

As a contributor to a blog called Kid Shootings, I’ve documented 580 shootings in the media from around the nation since the beginning of 2012 that involved around 800 children. Among those have been at least 22 different shootings at schools so far this year. Nearly all of those occurred because students had access to guns and brought them to school. Hundreds more reports are published each year of guns brought to school by children without having shots fired. These incidents are rarely the act of a madman, and the chance that a gun owner will be present at just the right time and place to stop the shooting is minuscule. 

The solution that I and other advocates suggest is to mandate safe storage of guns at home to keep kids from getting unsupervised access to them. 

The gun lobby, however, has a different solution. Last year Rep. Kim Thatcher, R-Salem, bullied the Newberg school system into reversing its no-gun policy by threatening endless lawsuits, which the school district could not afford. 

Don’t think the extremists will stop with Newberg. An attempt to pass a bill in this year’s Oregon legislative session, which would have given schools the authority to ban guns on school property, failed by a narrow margin. 

If a teacher sees someone at school with a gun under his jacket, she has no way to know if the person has a permit, what his intentions are, if he has any training in crisis situations, or if he has even fired a bullet (though many gun training classes offer live fire, it isn’t a requirement for a permit in Oregon). Compare this to police, who have mandated training with their weapons and crisis training, and whose duty it is to protect us. 

While most concealed handgun permit holders are law-abiding, every week I see articles of gun owners accidentally shooting children, allowing their guns to get into children’s hands, carelessly leaving their weapons unsecured, or acting out violently and killing people in cold blood. 

Having a concealed handgun license and walking on school grounds doesn’t magically change human nature and make a person more responsible. If that Salem security guard, trained in gun safety and carrying a gun for a living, isn’t able to keep his gun safe from students, how likely is it that every other concealed handgun license holder will be able to? 

If you wish to head off further attempts to allow guns in our schools, there are things you can do. Go to booksnotbullets.com and sign petitions for our local school superintendents, join the Million Mom March and Ceasefire Oregon in a rally against gun violence at the Eugene Water & Electric Board Plaza at 2 p.m. on May 13, call your state legislators, contact your school board, and help spread the word. 

Tell them our children deserve to study and play in an environment free of firearms.

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Another Racist Arizona Militia Member Becomes A Mass Murderer

Well, it’s happened again.  An extremist gun nut has lost it and shot down those closest to him and himself, including a child.  A little over a month ago, pro-gun blogger, shooting instructor, and gun forum visitor Landon S. Jorgensen shot to death his girlfriend and her 5-year old daughter before killing himself.

Child murderer, racist neo-Nazi, militia leader J.T. Ready "on patrol."

Then, yesterday, extremist J.T. Ready shot and killed four people, including a toddler, before shooting himself to death at a home in Gilbert, Arizona, where he lived with his girlfriend, who was among the dead. 

Police identified the others killed as 15-month-old Lily Lynn Mederos; 23-year-old Amber Nieve Mederos; 47-year-old Lisa Lynn Mederos and 24-year-old Jim Franklin Hiott.

Balafas has said that all the evidence points to the shooting being related to domestic violence. But he said investigators aren't sure what triggered the shooting.

Officers have recovered two handguns and a shotgun.

The shootings occurred in a subdivision filled with stucco homes with red-tile roofs.

Members of the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force and FBI agents removed what Balafas said were military-grade ordnance, munitions and two barrels of chemicals found behind the home.

Ready and Hiott were found dead outside the home, and the bodies of two women were inside. The toddler was found inside the home showing signs of life, but later died at a hospital.

A teenager in the house heard arguing followed by gunshots, Balafas said. She came out of a back room and found the bodies.

Ready was infamous for leading a “border militia” of like-minded neo-Nazi racists on “patrols” for illegal immigrants and drug runners along the Arizona/Mexico border, carrying assault rifles, wearing Ghillie suits, and posting snipers on the lookout.  They lived their gun fetish fantasy of “helping” law enforcement.  As Ready said in one news interview:

"We're going to go all night and shut down the drug corridor that comes directly into Phoenix.  We have guys that are going to be doing some covert stuff and we have some snipers coming out.  If we wait any longer we’re going to have to lower the American flag and call it northern Mexico.”

Paranoia at its worst.

Ready’s home had been the scene of previous police visits, for domestic dispute reports.

According to various sources, including the Wikipedia.org entry for him, Ready was also running for Sherriff, and had close ties to the Republican party, as he was a precinct committee person for them, had served as president of the Mesa Community College Republican Party Club, and was a guest speaker at Tea Party rallies.  No surprise, really, given the way the ultra-right feeds into such paranoid thinking.

He and his gun nut pals were also extremely racist against latinos and jews, and likely others.  Consider this TV interview, for instance, where he said:

The one excluded race from any kind of scrutiny is the jews.  They are the true racial supremicists … They believe in world domination…. We want to provide for the security of our people and a future for white children.

Apparently he didn’t care for the security and future of the white toddler he shot and killed yesterday, though.  He goes on and on:

Only whites don’t have one stretch of land on this Earth that is for our people.  We’re going to change that. ….

White America used to be 100% White, now we’re about 60%.  That was all part of the plan through legal immigration alone.  …  It is White people going extinct on this planet, right now, in every city across this world.

Apparently Native Americans and black people weren’t part of historical America, to Ready.

There are lots and lots of videos and articles about this lunatic and his pals.  Here’s a link to a bunch of them and further commentary.

But Ready wasn’t the first of his militia pals to suffer a brutal shooting death.  His fellow white supremacist and “border patrol” organizer, Jeffrey Hall, was shot to death last year by his 10-year old son.

It would seem that these militia guys should be fearing each other and themselves more than the big, bad Mexican boogeymen that they trump up as the enemy.

This case certainly conjures up memories of the last violent militia shooting crime in Arizona:  The 2009 shooting of the Flores family by “border patrol” Minutemen American Defense militia members, namely mastermind and former prostitute Shawna Forde.  She and her minions, Gunny Bush and Albert Gaxiola, were also white supremacists and claimed to be patrolling the border on behalf of Arizona.  Of course, these people who considered themselves the best kind of patriots (as Ready had), turned out to be lowlife, violent criminals.  The invaded the home of the Flores family, all of whom were legal U.S. citizens, and robbed the place.  They shot and killed 9-year old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul “Junior” Flores, and critically injured the mother, Gina Marie Gonzalez.  Forde is now on death row, along with Bush, and Gaxiola will probably die in prison of old age.

J.T. Ready, by the way, idolized the Minutemen American Defense militia.

All I can say about these violent gun nuts, is this:  “You live by the gun, you die by the gun.”

And what is the state of Arizona’s stance on these violent, racist militia groups?  They decided it was such a good idea that they set up a state-sponsorship of them, and now they are actually considering funding them to the tune of $1.9 million!  But then, this IS Arizona, home of the most relaxed gun laws in the nation, paranoid and discriminatory laws against latinos, where they respond to mass shootings by holding gun shows and making a gun a symbol of the state.

The J.T. Ready shooting and the Flores murders are just two examples of why I consider “citizen’s militias” to be would-be terrorist groups.  They breed hate and spew violence.   Just in case you doubt my opinion on this, my next post will be a timeline of these and other militia member crimes.

UPDATES (5/8/12):  
J.T. Ready committed his horrible act while wearing body armor, showing that the attack was pre-meditated and that he might have thought one of those he attacked might have been willing to shoot back.  The article also says more about his ties to local politics, particularly Senator Russell Pearce.

Ready's extremist militia pals are vowing to continue their nefarious mission, despite his death.

In searching Ready's home after the attack, authorities found, among the weapons and ammo, six live military grenades, which are illegal for civilians to possess or purchase.

Ready was, of course, a devout NRA member.

Naturally, Ready's neo-Nazi pals are already claiming that Ready is innocent of his crime, and that it MUST have been some sort of plot by the U.S. government or Mexican drug cartels.  Says one commenter at the forum, calling himself "MaxKrieger":

Suddenly the story does not mesh, so you bring in feds to examine water barrels? And buy some time?

I have no doubt the "official story" will be that JT did all this, I just doubt the official story.

I spoke with JT on a few occasions, sadly never in Person, but I am not buying any of this garbage about him.

UPDATE (5/18/12):  From a follow-up article: 

J.T. Ready had 13 encounters with Gilbert police since 2008, and corresponding police reports depict an armed vigilante with a short temper, racially charged motives and a history of domestic-violence accusations.

And yet, despite all the encounters and domestic violence, our lax gun laws allowed this racist baby-killer to keep his arsenal of weapons and continue with his racist and violent agenda.

Where Is The Safest Place To Avoid Gun Accidents? Shooting Ranges?

Those of us who fight gun violence are always pointing out the one, irrefutable truth about firearms:  guns are designed to fire with deadly force, quickly and easily.  Because of this, where guns go, gun violence follows.  The same is true of unintentional shootings  (note that I'm distinguishing between "accidents" and unintentional shootings, since the term "accident" suggests that an incident is somehow unavoidable).  Literally every day I read about unintentional shootings, often with children, but there's no shortage of these shootings involving adults, too.  Here is a sampling of them.  Most of these are by previously law-abiding citizens, some with conceal carry permits, like this guy (who just two days ago was a newly trained security guard showing off his gun to a friend.  He wound up shooting her in the head and killing her.)

To the gun guys, these daily accidents are just another cost of their "freedom."  To me, it's a disgraceful and avoidable shame.

When these unintentional shootings occur, the most common statement from pro-gun extremists is that the person who fired the gun just hadn't had sufficient training in the four rules of gun safety.  I say that's bullshit.  It's true that in most states, including here in Oregon, you don't need a moment of gun safety training to purchase a gun for your home, not a single shot fired.  But this is a lethal weapon.  Anyone with any common sense should realize it is deadly -- the reason it is purchased -- and should be treated as such at all times.  Here in Oregon you have to take a class for an hour or two, no live fire required by the state (although many programs do so anyway).  It's the same in many other states, such as Arizona (where THIS young lady wasn't even asked if she had fired a gun, much less had to do so for her conceal carry certification class).  I don't feel that a couple hours sitting at a desk or firing off a few dozen rounds at the shooting range is sufficient to render someone "safe" with their weapon, but at least they should have had someone drill the idea into their head for an hour.  Better than nothing, I guess.

Okay, so if there is any one place a person could go to avoid an accident, it would be with close supervision by an experienced firearms instructor, well-versed in teaching safety for a wide range of firearms and diverse clients of all ages, right?  Like a shooting range.  The four rules of gun safety should be prominent in everything that happens there, posted on the walls, and evident with every step in the process of picking up, loading, firing, and setting down the gun.  I've been to a few shooting ranges and shot handguns and rifles at them, from my old Boy Scout camp in the woods of Arkansas to an indoor police range here in Oregon.  They all featured the four rules in one form or another and apparently competent instructors.

So I would say that shooting ranges and firearms safety classes should be pretty foolproof for safety.  Wouldn't you agree?

Except they aren't.

(Note: Additional updated incidents will be added as they occur.  See below.) 

1/24/12 -- Eastlake, Ohio:  A man attempts to clear his weapon and unintentionally sends a .357 round through the stall wall, hitting his friend on the other side.  The friend dies from the wound.

1/28/12 -- Rowlett, Texas:  After numerous stray bullets hit homes over a couple years, most recently flying through a wall and nearly hitting a 5-year old boy, the town moves to shut down the shooting range.

"It's just a parent's worst nightmare," she said. "The idea of a child getting hurt or killed, especially in a house -- it shouldn't happen in a house."

Police said the bullets were from a high powered rifle that could have traveled a distance.

"It's just scary," Bowman said. "Had they been playing in here, they would have been in the path of the bullet, and who knows what would have happened."

2/7/12 -- Sitka, Alaska:  A man at a shooting range was re-holstering his weapon when it fired, killing him.

3/20/12 -- Custer, South Dakota:  Residents call for the shutting down of a shooting range after reports of bullets flying through residential neighborhoods.

"You go outside and you don't really feel safe when they're shooting. I've had two bullets, heard them ricochet up and come towards over in that area across the highway," neighbor Quinten Arp said.

"It's right next to the highway, right next to the houses and it's not a place for a gun range," Arp said.

3/10/12 -- San Antonio, Texas:  A court halts rifle fire at a shooting range after a nearby golfer was struck by a stray bullet.

3/23/12 -- Boise, Idaho:  25-year-old Kevin Kuhn died of a self-inflicted wound to the forehead at an indoor range run by Impact Guns in Boise.  Despite being a forehead wound, police believe it likely wasn't a suicide due to the fact that the gun was at an intermediate range and not directly against the skin when it fired.

3/26/12 -- Charleston, North Carolina:  60-year-old Benny Patterson was shooting at the range in the Trader World Gun Shot when he stopped to inspect his weapon, but he discharged it unintentionally, hitting himself in the chest and dying from the wound.

4/14/12 -- Fayetteville, North Carolina:  a man at an indoor shooting range tries to clear his gun, but it discharges, sending a round through his leg.

4/16/12 -- Texas City, Texas:  The rangemaster at a city municipal shooting range tried to unjam a handgun when it fires, sending a  round through his hand.

4/18/12 -- Paulden, Arizona:  A man who was attending a basic pistol class at the Gunsite Academy went to holster his weapon and sent a round through his leg.

4/24/12 -- Roanoke, Virginia:  A man and woman were taking a firearms safety class when he unintentionally fired his .45-caliber handgun through his hand in into his wife's leg.  The man who shot himself said the shooting was a "stupid accident."

4/26/12 -- Galveston, Indiana:  A gun store and shooting range was having a "shooting event" which featured a .308-caliber Russian-made machine gun.  Unfortunately, they also rained bullets downon the surrounding residential neighborhood, nearly hitting a mother and her 5-yearold daughter as they sat for lunch.

At first she thought someone was throwing rocks, but when she heard a popping noise she realized it was gunfire and called 911.

“I just didn’t know where to go,” Stout said. “I had to go get my phone and I thought, ‘What if they start shooting again?’ ”

Police found a bullet lodged in a wooden door frame inside the home and another bullet in the drywall upstairs. The first bullet nearly hit the mother and daughter, a police report said.

“If the round would have traveled three inches to the right, there is a high probability chance that Lori and/or her daughter could have been struck,” the report said.

(see below for additional shooting incidents added since the initial posting)

And that's just the instances I've heard of this year.  I didn't search back through last year or prior.

No wonder cities all over the country are trying to shut down shooting ranges or prevent them from being built.  Some say the issue is noise from the guns.  But let's face it: no one is comfortable with the idea of bullets whizzing around their neighborhoods.  In the words of the owner of that shooting range in Custer, South Dakota, that's being attacked for its poor safety:

" I will not and cannot guarantee that a round will never escape this premises. You just can't do it."

And that's the problem.  All it takes is one bullet with an unfortunate trajectory to kill someone.

Citizens in Chickamauga, Georgia, for instance, are objecting to the building of a shooting range there, only 400 feet from a daycare and school.

Here's a Chicago neighborhood who objected to the building of a police shooting range near them.  Using an environmental argument, they succeeded in blocking the plan.

Increasingly ostracized, it's harder all the time to find a location far enough away from civilized areas to build a shooting range.  Here's one in West Virginia that is getting opposition to build near a cemetery (in an ironic way, maybe the only suitable landmark to be near a shooting range).  And here's one in Maine which was evicted from their old location and has to settle on an old sludge pit!

So if shooting ranges with instructors aren't safe enough, then where can you possibly go without fear of being shot by some idiot who isn't mindful of his weapon?

Anywhere there isn't a gun, obviously.

UPDATES:

More gun range shootings since posting this entry:

4/27/12 -- Gas City, Indiana:  A Muncie man unintentionally fires his SKS military-style semi-auto assault rifle at a shooting range, hitting himself twice in the abdomen.  He is expected to survive.

5/7/12 -- Onalaska, Washington:  A woman being trained in drawing and re-holstering her 9mm handgun unintentionally shot herself while re-holstering it into her concealed hoster.  The wound was non-life-threatening.

5/8/12 -- Scottsdale, Arizona:  A 52-year old man accidentally shot himself in the chest at the Scottsdale Gun Club.

5/11/12 -- Lincoln County, Idaho:  A police officer, training during an NRA officer training course, accidentally shoots himself at a gun range.

5/28/12 -- Laguna Hills, California:  32-year old Kenneth Matthew Wells wrote a suicide note, went to a shooting range, rented a gun, stepped into the shooting range, and shot himself dead with one round to the head. 

6/12 -- Brighton, Michigan:  Charles Kimball and his friend Jessce Stearn were at the Livingston Conservation and Sports Association gun range when Stearn shot Kimball in the head with a replica AK-47, killing him.  The shooting was later determined to be intentional murder.

6/15/12 -- West Palm Beach, Florida:  A patron at the Shoot Straight shooting range was unintentionally hit and wounded by a ricochet bullet.

6/21/12 -- Galeton, Colorado:  A 71-year old man, Wayne Harrison of Greeley, unintentionally fired his .357-caliber revolver while trying to holster it, while at a gun club, shooting himself in the stomach.  He was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition (related article).

6/21/12 -- Wichita, Kansas:  A law-enforcement recruit was struck by a ricochet bullet while practicing, and had minor injuries, at a firing range near Lake Afton.

6/23/12 -- Utah Lake, Utah:  A wildfire was started after a person at a shooting range shot at and hit an exploding target.  (So far there have been at least 20 wildfires started by exploding targets in Utah alone, so far this year).

7/2/12 -- Brighton Township, Michigan:  Four friends, three males aged 19 and a 16-year old female, went to a gun range to fire an AK-47.  The gun jammed, as it had in the past.  In trying to clear the jam, it discharged, hitting and killing one of the 19 year olds.

7/4/12 -- West Palm Beach, Florida:  A woman accidentally shoots her boyfriend in the ankle at Gator Guns and Archery Center. 

7/7/12 -- Green Garden Township, Illinois:  Bullets pepper a nearby home, including a round that nearly hit two teen boys inside, shot from a private home shooting range, where a party with 25-30 shooters were firing weapons under the supervision of an ex-Marine tactical firearms trainer.

7/17/12 -- Houston, Texas:  A police officer was at the Houston Police Department Academy firing range, cleaning his weapon, thinking it was unloaded.  He accidentally fired the weapon, hitting the floor. A bullet fragment wounded him above his eyebrow.  

7/19/12 -- Petaluma, California:  A man who was an award-winning marksman and lifetime shooter was shooting alone at a shooting range when he went to get his shotgun from the car.  The gun was loaded, and when he pulled it out, barrel pointed toward him, it discharged, striking him in the chest and killing him.  "He was a very, very safe person," said his wife and mother of their two children.

8/26/12 -- Scottsdale, Arizona:  A man commits suicide at the Scottsdale Gun Club.  (In May, a man had accidentally shot himself at the same gun club).

9/28/12 -- Muskogee, Oklahoma:  James Woolard, 44, was doing target practice at a gun range at Camp Gruber shot himself to death in what appears to be an accident. 

10/15/12 -- Fort Myers, Florida:  Richard Arlen Kelley, 75, walked into Fowler Firearms and Gun Range for the second time, rented a gun, and spent 20 minutes shooting before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.

10/19/12 -- Gardiner, Maine:  Kennebec County Sheriff, and Iraq War veteran, Randall Liberty was kneeling at a shooting range when he was struck in the back by a .45-caliber round.  Luckily, he was wearing a tactical vest which dissipated the round, and was uninjured other than a large bruise and swelling.

10/29/12 -- Cedar Falls, Iowa:  A man was allowing his 5-year old daughter to shoot a .22 rifle at Black Hawk Park's recreational  range when the girl's 8-year old brother walked across the firing line.  She unintentionally shot him once in the head.  No charges are being filed against the gun owner.

10/30/12 -- Fullerton, California:  A police officer was undergoing monthly qualifications in the police shooting range when he unintentionally shot himself in the leg, with minor injuries.

10/30/12 -- Wyoming, Michigan:  41-year old Mark Sobie (a convicted felon who had in 2009 tried to rob a bank with a toy gun) rented a gun at the Silver Bullet Firearms shooting range and committed suicide with it, due to depression over the death of his son. Though a convicted felon, Sobie did not have to undergo a background check to rent the gun.

11/4/12 -- Ferris, Texas:  Veteran firearms trainer Sonny Puzikas decided to have one last run through a "close combat" shooting range at the Texas Defensive Shooting Academy, where, according to the founder, "allows shooters the ability to shoot the way they want, without the stringent rules imposed like most other ranges."  Unfortunately, the area wasn't clear, and Puzikas unintentionally shot an assistant shooting instructor three times, in the abdomen, hand, and bicep. Luckily he will survive.

11/7/12 -- San Antonio, Texas:  A man rented a gun at the A Place To Shoot gun range and, after firing off a number of rounds, killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot using the weapon. It was ruled a suicide after two suicide notes were found in his car.

11/13/12 -- Alamance County, North Carolina:  An Alamance County Sheriff's Deputy was in the midst of firearm certification at the Sheriff's Department shooting range when he stumbled while holstering his weapon, unintentionally shooting himself with his .40-caliber handgun.  His wound was non-life-threatening.

11/24/12 -- Cheatham County, Tennessee:  A 13-year old boy was with his family and was retrieving targets.  That's when a woman moved a number of firearms on a nearby bench, discharging a .22-caliber revolver and striking the boy in the abdomen.  Luckily the wound was not life-threatening.

11/29/12 -- Nevada, Texas:  A 5-year old boy was injured by flying glass, and narrowly missed, when a stray bullet went through his car window, shot from the neighboring Armadillo Gun Range, despite the use of dirt berms around the range.

11/30/12 -- West Columbia, South Carolina:  A 62-year old man was taking apart his gun at Shooter's Choice gun range when he unintentionally discharged it, shooting himself in the chest.  He died shortly after.

1/19/13 -- El Paso, Texas:  A woman at the Dragonman's pistol range unintentionally fired her gun while reloading.  The round hit a trash can and the ricochet wounded her on the leg.  Another woman was also slightly hurt.

1/20/13 -- Marshfield, Wisconsin:  53-year-old Stephen Sammartino at the Wood County Rifle Range was attempting to clear his gun when he unintentionally discharged it, hitting his 25-year old son in the back.  His son was flown to the hospital in critical condition.  No charges.

2/2/13 -- Glen Rose, Texas:  Famed, record-holding SEAL team sniper, gun trainer, and pro-gun spokesman Chris Kyle, was shot to death, along with another man, by a suspect who suffered from PTSD and other serious mental illness, at a shooting range at the Rough Creek Lodge.

2/5/13 -- Hatfield Township, Pennsylvania:   Sgt. Stephen Gillen, a 23-year police veteran, of the Upper Gwynedd Township Police Department was conducting annual firearms training at a police shooting range when he unintentionally fired a round into his left foot while he was removing the weapon from his holster.

2/24/13 -- Dallas, Texas:  A shooter at the DFW Gun Range stupidly decided to use tracer bullets while target shooting. Being a type of small flare, they caught the building on fire. Around 50 people had to be evacuated as the building was engulfed in flames, with multiple small explosions, in this four-alarm fire.  No charges were filed.

2/27/13 -- Dalton, Georgia:  A young girl was allowed to shoot a double-barreled shotgun at the Chestnut Mountain Shooting Range.  The kickback was too strong for the girl after she fired the gun, causing her to drop the weapon, whereupon it discharged again.  The shot hit and injured two people in their legs.  No charges were filed against the girl or whomever allowed her to shoot.

3/3/13 -- Waldorf, Maryland:  61-year-old Patrick Allen Richards of Hughesville, who was target shooting at The St. Charles Sportsman's Club, unintentionally discharged his gun while it was pointed at his upper body, possibly as part of a recoil accident.  The shot killed him.

3/22/13 -- Gaston County, North Carolina: A student at the Gastonia Police Firearms and Tactical Training Center shooting range had problems with his handgun, and while investigating it with a trainer, they discharged it, hitting a deputy from the Gaston County Sheriff's Office in the hip.

TOTAL: 46