A comparison of firearm-related death rates in selected Oregon counties

(This is a cross-post from the Ceasefire Oregon blog, here)

By Penny Okamoto, Executive Director of Ceasefire Oregon

Numbers from 2005 – 2014 about firearm-related deaths in Deschutes, Multnomah, Klamath, and Linn Counties. For comparisons, I highlighted Multnomah County because it has the highest population and is the most urban. I highlighted Klamath because it ranks third (behind Curry and Baker) in firearm-related death rates but Klamath has a larger population for better comparison. (Klamath has 66,000; Baker, 16,000; and Curry 22,000 rounded.) I highlighted Linn because it was comparable in population size to Deschutes.

All rates are per 100,000 people.

Deschutes County:

• Average yearly death rate from firearms: 12.16 per 100,000
• Average firearm-suicide rate: 11.20
• Average firearm-homicide rate: 0.64
• Population: 163,000 (rounded)

Multnomah County:

• Average yearly death rate from firearms: 8.88 per 100,000
• Average firearm-suicide rate: 6.41
• Average firearm-homicide rate: 2.07
• Population: 757,000 (rounded)

Klamath County:

• Average yearly death rate from firearms: 21.60 per 100,000
• Average firearm-suicide rate: 16.47
• Average firearm-homicide rate: 4.08 (No, that is not a typo.)
• Population: 66,000 (rounded)

Linn County:

• Average yearly death rate from firearms: 10.57 per 100,000
• Average firearm-suicide rate: 9.01
• Average firearm-homicide rate: 0.95
• Population: 118,000 (rounded)

Data from https://www.oregonlive.com/trending/2017/12/where_do_oregonians_die_by_gun.html

An additional comparison: Chicago’s firearm-homicide rate is 16.4 per 100,000 (2010-2015). Even Chicago, however, is much lower than that of New Orleans (46.9), Detroit (45.0), or St. Louis (43.8) for the same time period. [Sixty percent of guns recovered in crimes in Chicago were first sold in other states, many with weaker gun laws. A small handful of gun stores, three from Cook Country and one from Gary, Indiana, continue to be responsible for a disproportionate number of crime guns recovered on Chicago’s streets.]  (Source: “Is Chicago Really America’s Most Dangerous City?”)

Further studies are needed to determine if firearm-homicide rates in Jefferson (4.62), Klamath (4.08), Malheur (2.26), Coos (2.22), and Josephine (2.06) Counties could be reduced with immediate access to Level 1 trauma centers. The same question should be asked of firearm-suicide rates. (Approximately 85-90% of firearm-suicide attempts are immediately lethal.)

One must question if providing effective suicide prevention support–including educating people about Extreme Risk Protection Order–and investigating firearm sellers who violate SB 941 by not performing background checks for gun sales, would reduce firearm-related deaths. SB 941 took effect in 2015 and ERPO took effect in 2018. Data could be available next year to determine if SB 941 is effective in reducing firearm-related deaths in counties which enforced the law.

Note: The counties with the highest rates of firearm-related deaths all have or have had* a sheriff who publicly refused to support SB 941 (background checks for almost all firearm sales). (Curry, Klamath, Coos, Josephine, Douglas Counties).

*Mr. Skrah (Klamath County) is no longer sheriff after he was found guilty on five counts relating choking and harassment. Skrah was cleared of a charge of strangulation. Skrah stated (without irony), “And if you send me to jail, I don’t know if I can defend myself,” even though he faced jail time for fourth-degree assault. Mr. Gilbertson is no longer sheriff of Josephine County after he was defeated in the last election. Gilbertson, who faced charges of stolen valor, was replaced by Dave Danielwho also states he will ignore Oregon law.

September Is National Suicide Prevention Month.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month.

You could save the life of someone you love.

   

Did you know? In Oregon, at least one person every day takes his life by shooting himself to death.

   

Each year an average of 379 people in Oregon committed suicide using a gun. 

The highest rate of suicide by firearm is by White males over the age of 65. 

Removing firearms from the home, even temporarily, can save the life of someone you love.

From 2010 to 2014:

• 2,280 Oregonians died from firearms injuries.
• 1,897 were suicides.
• The highest firearm injury death rate occurred among White males, aged 65 and older, due to a high suicide rate (38.7 per 100,000).
• Firearms were used to kill in 87% of the homicide/suicide murders in Oregon.
• Almost half (44%) of people who died by firearm suicide had a depressed mood.  One-third had a diagnosed mental illness. About a quarter (27%) were being treated for a mental illness and 13% had a history of suicide.

To reduce the risk of suicide, keep all firearms securely locked, unloaded and stored separately from ammunition or store the firearms in another location such as a firearm storage facility. (If you transfer firearms to a friend, even temporarily, you are required by law to perform a background check on the person to whom you are transferring the firearms.)

Firearm owners are not more suicidal than non-firearm owners; rather, their suicide attempts are more likely to be fatal. If highly lethal means are made less available to impulsive attempters and they substitute less lethal means, or temporarily postpone their attempt, their survival odds greatly increase.

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Are you a teacher? Learn the signs of suicide and what you can do to prevent a tragedy. Read the Oregon Health Authority's informational page "What Every Teacher Should Know" or download the brochure.

The Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation partners with Lines for Life and the Oregon Youth Suicide Prevention Program.

For more information: Oregon Violent Death Reporting System, Oregon Injury and Violence Prevention Program

Statistics And Charts: Shootings By Type

A Washington Post article recently summarized, in one graphic, the type of shootings relative to each other in number.

As you'll see, defensive (or "justified") shootings outside of law enforcement are only a tiny fraction.  It is this tiny fraction of shootings, only 1 out of every 115, that the NRA uses to try to justify their "guns everywhere" arguments.

For every fatal justified, defensive shooting, there are 34 homicide deaths using guns, 78 suicides with a gun, and 2 accidental deaths.

But the NRA and other pro-gun supporters don't care about all those other deaths.

From the article:

Also from the article:

There are, of course, plenty of solid arguments for robust 2nd Amendment protections. Millions of people use guns for sport and recreation every day. The vast majority of gun owners are responsible citizens, not criminals. 

But, though some people certainly use guns for self-defense, the data suggest that overall, guns are used far more often for killing then self-defense. As a result, it's may be thinking twice about arguments for more guns in schools, churches and other public places.

HERE is a related post, with a different chart showing similar information.

Homicides Are Up Across The Board. "More Guns" Isn't Working

(UPDATED -- See below)

According to all measures, homicides are increasing in America, and easy access to firearms is the common factor.

This week, the BBC reported that the "U.S. murder rate sees sharp increase in 2015."  From the article:

The latest figures obtained by the New York Times show Milwaukee has seen the biggest rise, with a 76% increase.

It is followed by St Louis, Missouri, which has seen a 60% increase, and Baltimore, Maryland, with a 56% rise. ....

The latest figures show the number of murders in Milwaukee increased from 59 last year to 104 so far in 2015.

In St Louis, it rose from 85 last year to 136 so far this year, and in Baltimore shot up from 138 last year to 215 by the summer of 2015.

In Washington, there have been 105 murders - a 44% increase from last year.

The numbers have also jumped in other cities, including New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas, New York and Philadelphia, though to a lesser extent.

The article only speculated on the cause, wondering about increases in gun ownership, gang warfare, youth violence, or race relations.

Here in Oregon, too, shootings are on the rise, as chronicled daily on the Oregon Shootings Facebook and Twitter pages.  Portland, in particular, has seen an increase, especially for gang shootings, breaking all previous records.  From an article:

On Wednesday, Sgt. Pete Simpson announced the Gang Enforcement Team responded to 121 incidents of gang violence so far this year.

“It’s the highest that we’ve had since we’ve been keeping records,” Gang Enforcement Team Lt. Mike Krantz said.

The overwhelming majority of these incidents involved gunfire, police said. ....

The Tactical Operations Division – which houses the gang unit, Gun Task Force and Metro Gang Task Force – has seized 137 firearms as evidence in criminal cases from 2015.

But it's not just the large cities.  Here in my home town of Eugene, and the neighboring city of Springfield, homicides, most involving shootings, has drastically increased this summer, with 12 dead in just three months.  From an article:

By whatever name, it’s been a season of violent crime in the Eugene-Springfield area — murders, suicides and shootings that have resulted in the deaths of 12 people, including three since Friday.

Eugene averages about three murders in an entire year; Springfield averages about two.

Nine of the deaths to occur this summer season have involved firearms; two involved a knife; Jeremy Ringquist hanged himself.

Five of the homicide victims have been women; four have been males. Three of the 12 dead are killers — all men — who then committed suicide, police said.

The homicide victims range in age from Gardner, the only juvenile victim at age 17, to 59-year-old Kathy Kay Braun, who was stabbed at her home on Berntzen Road in west Eugene in late July. Two accused killers — one who committed suicide and one who didn’t — are in their 70s.

And while the details on the latest killing are not yet known, most of the crimes are related to domestic violence involving either family members, roommates or partners.

The above figures don’t include other serious crimes, including shootings and stabbings, that have occurred over the summer but in which the victim survived.

As with the BBC article, this article can only speculate on the trends that have led to this.

It's enough to lead nine different health organizations to declare that gun injuries are a public health crisis in America.

But I'm not surprised at all.  

One overwhelming commonality to most of these is the weapon used.  According to FBI data from 2011, around 68% of all homicides involve firearms, with around 75% of those using handguns -- far and away exceeding any other weapons in lethality.

It's not a coincidence that shootings are increasing while gun sales are increasing. 

The NRA narrative is that more guns make us safer.  The NRA's Wayne LaPierre is infamous for stating that "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," and they have been working overtime to remove any and all gun restrictions that keep guns out of the wrong hands, trying to increase concealed and open carry of guns, and trying to get guns into more places and more hands, including in bars, churches, schools, and government buildings -- all the places where sane people know guns shouldn't be.  And the NRA is succeeding in many places.  And the gun manufacturers who bankroll the organization couldn't be happier.

And yet, despite more guns in more places, the criminals aren't running scared.  Instead, shootings are increasing.  Could it be, possibly, that having more guns around is making it easier for unstable people to access them??  Shocking, I know. 

Last year, I showed comparative graphs illustrating the trends.  As gun sales and gun production increase, along with conceal carry permits granted, so, too, do the number of mass shootings and the number of victims of mass shootings.  

We can now add homicides to that list, too.

We've tried things the "NRA way," and it isn't working.  It's time to form a new trajectory for our nation away from gun violence. 

Addendum (9/4/15): An article from The Trace details how gun deaths have increased this summer compared to last summer:

The total numbers, the numbers that matter, are these. Between the start of Memorial Day Weekend and August 28 (the date when the most recent statistics were pulled), an estimated 3,702 people were killed by guns in America. Another 8,153 were wounded. That’s according to preliminary data from the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks incidents of gun violence through media reports and police blotters. And it amounts to 81 more shooting deaths and 959 more gun injuries than during the same period in 2014.  ... 

It was in America’s cities that the spike in gun violence was foreshadowed in late spring, as crime statistics from the first months of the year trickled in. By early June, Chicago, St. Louis and Baltimore had reported a double-digit uptick in firearm injuries and deaths. By July, several more cities had joined their ranks, one by one surpassing the previous year’s violence in half the time. When compared with Los Angeles and New York, which are home to millions, a few dozen more murders may not seem like an epidemic. For cities like Milwaukee and Omaha, with populations under half a million, the toll can be overwhelming.  

In some urban centers, news outlets tracked shootings by the hour, not the day. 

UPDATE (9/16/15):  The number of homicides and shootings continues to break records in my home town of Eugene and neighboring Springfield.  From an article:

Police have responded to 11 homicides in Eugene and Springfield since June.  The death toll is even higher when you factor in the four suspects who took their own lives in apparent murder-suicides. 

Over the past decade, Eugene has averaged about 3 homicides per year; Springfield averaged about 2. Once in the past decade, Springfield Police investigated 4 homicides in a single calendar year.

.

Statistics and Charts: Intentional Shootings

Below is a pie chart showing the intention of intentional shooting deaths in the United States, taken from FBI data, for 2011-2013.

HERE is the source of this graph, along with some details of the data.

See that tiny black sliver?  That is what the NRA and the gun guys say is worth defending their definition of "gun rights" and why we should allow guns everywhere, virtually unregulated.  That constitutes less than 1% of shooting deaths.  Even accidental deaths (not shown on this chart) outnumber them 2-to-1.

I say all those other colors are what makes it important to restrict guns further.  Wouldn't you agree?

I'm pretty sure the 33,000 shooting death victims a year would agree.

The NRA's "Good Guys" Propaganda Video

(UPDATED -- See below)

I'm laughing today at a propaganda video put out by the NRA for their convention, which is happening right now.

Here, see if for yourself.  I want everyone to see the sort of fearmongering they are pushing...


Did you notice that one of the narrators is a black man and another is a woman?  I wonder why they chose them for this?  Could it be because gun ownership is incredibly low in those demographics?  Probably because women who live in a home with guns are FAR more likely to be victims of shootings in domestic violence incidents, and Blacks are FAR more likely to be shot to death than Whites.

Let's take a moment to analyze some of what they say in the video.  See below for some selected quotes uttered by the three, very-sincere narrators in the video....

Do you still believe in good guys?

Why yes, yes I do, but that doesn't automatically count anyone who can legally buy a gun.  I've seen too many reports of the sort of people whom the NRA labels as "good guys" go on shooting rampages.  Consider, for instance, the 475 shooters who had legal conceal carry permits, whose shootings led to 636 deaths, as chronicled by the Violence Policy Center.

You are surrounded by a world where madmen are famous and good ones forgotten

Madmen?  Like the racist, insurrectionist rancher, Cliven Bundy, who has gathered together a bunch of armed militia to help him continue illegally grazing his cattle without paying for it?  And good ones?  Like Jordan Davis, the unarmed teen who was shot to death by an armed "good guy" who didn't like Davis' music being played too loud and who wasn't convicted for the crime of killing the boy?  No, sadly, the NRA and their followers reverse that order.

Doors are locked and streets have gone silent.

Where the gates of success swing open for hypocrites, chameleons, bullies, and yes-men.

Where filthy crimes go unpunished, and killers and con artists prey upon anyone who still follows the rules.

Wow. That's a really bleak picture they paint!  The NRA loves to roll out their circus of fear!  Makes me afraid to go out my locked door into the silent street.  From the sound of it, killers and con-artists (why not throw in zombies, too?) are waiting to prey on me.  I'd better arm myself!

Can you think of any "filthy crimes" that have gone unpunished?  I certainly can.  But if the crime involves a gun, you can bet the NRA has turned its head and done nothing to keep it from happening again.  It couldn't possibly have been committed by one of their "good guys."  And who are they thinking of when they refer to hypocrites?  Maybe THIS GUY?  Surely, when they mention "chameleons," they aren't thinking of THIS GUY, right?  And when they say "bullies," are they talking about THESE GUYS, who stalked unarmed women out to lunch?  Somehow I doubt it.

[The video then evokes heroic personas of police, soldiers in battle, and firefighters, putting themselves in harm's way -- the implication, of course, is that anyone who carries a gun can be like those people!]

It takes courage to be free.  A special kind of backbone to reject the world that surrounds you.

Yes, let's evoke words like "courage" and "freedom" to sell your guns, NRA. It's a recurring theme.  But be sure to reinforce the anti-government propaganda that you've been spewing.  Make it seem "courageous" to reject the world surrounding you.  I mean, it takes a "backbone" to be fringe, right?

Normal, everyday people who aren't drinking the NRA Kool-Aid can see this video for what it is: 
fearmongering with lots of patriotic dressing, intended to rile up NRA members into buying more guns. 

How do you identify a "good guy with a gun" anyhow?

I've seen lots of reports in the last few days that make me question who the NRA thinks of as "good guys."  Like THIS GUY, who strapped on his handgun and terrorized kids and moms at a little league baseball game.  Thanks to the NRA, the police couldn't do anything to stop him.  Or THIS GUY, who opened fire on police with an AK-47 assault rifle when they knocked on his door to see if he had witnessed a car crash in front of his house.  Or THIS GUY, who had a loaded, unsecured handgun in a bag and, dropping it, unintentionally shot his wife in the ass.  Or the parents of THIS TEEN, who allowed their AK-47 assault rifle and other guns to get into his hands and take them to school with him to threaten others.  Or the parents of THIS 8-YEAR OLD KID, who allowed their assault rifle to get into his hands so that he shot at people with it.  As far as I can tell, none of these "law abiding gun owners" had been prohibited from owning their guns.  Are they NRA "good guys" too (until they weren't)??

It's time to reject the NRA propaganda and expose it for what it is and take REAL steps to keep guns out of the hands of the bad guys!


UPDATE (4/29/14):  No sooner had I posted this when a news report came in:  Six people were shot by a deranged and armed man at a FedEx facility in Kennesaw, Georgia.  Two people are critically injured, and the shooter then shot himself to death.  Why is this relevant to this post?  Because Kennesaw is a town which passed a law REQUIRING every household to own a gun!!  If you followed the NRA "logic", then a shooting of this magnitude just shouldn't be possible.  With all those armed "good guys" around, the shooter shouldn't have been able to kill before being killed, and in a state which recently passed the "guns everywhere" law, no less!

From the article:

The Georgia facility is located in Kennesaw, near Atlanta, a quiet suburb unique in the U.S. for mandating every household own at least one gun. The law is not enforced, so the Kennesaw gun ownership rate hovers around 50 percent, according to its police chief. That’s still higher than the average rate of gun ownership in the U.S., estimated to be about 34 percent. When the law was enacted in 1982, Kennesaw had only 5,000 residents. Today, it has a population of 30,000. 

The incident comes just one week after Georgia enacted what may be the nation’s most expansive concealed carry law. The National Rifle Association-sponsored “Safe Protection Act” allows gun owners to bring firearms into most public spaces, including schools, bars, churches, airports, and government buildings, even though researchers have generally found that more people die from gun homicides in areas with higher rates of gun ownership.

So much for all those "good guys with guns."