Help with crime statistic

[fishbulb]

In a recent discussion about handgun ownership with a friend, he stated something along the lines of "It doesn't make any sense to worry about being a violent crime victim because it is such a remote risk compared to things such as automobile accidnets."

I blieve that he is wrong.

I remember seeing a post on here that compared the two risks and demonstrated that violent crime affects a surprisingly large number of people, but have been unable to find it. Searching on the internet has also been unsuccessful.

I know that many bladeforums members are very well-informed about issues such as this, and I would appreciate any help that you can offer to disprove this idea that violent crime is a remote risk.

 

[underaged!]

I think it's best not to worry about either. We should be conserned, not the US government conserned with the terrorists, the bio-weapons, and things like WMD. But we should always keep those possibilites in the back of our minds.

I think it's best to be prepared. Both situations occur too often now-a-days and we should be ready to some extent for both.

My .02

 

[Larry S.]

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/cv2.htm

http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics//2003/html/table_02_03.html


Looks to me as if there's about 4 times as many auto accidents (includes trucks and buses) as there are violent crimes, at least for 2002, the last year both are reported in these sources, but remember the stats don't break down the number of victims in each. Also there are several of each that occur that go unreported each year.
Hope this helps.

Larry S.