# The missing voice in the gun control debates **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 26, 2013, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-missing-voice-in-the-gun-control-debates/648422 "2013-01-26T08:06:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 8
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-missing-voice-in-the-gun-control-debates/648422/8 "2013-01-26T15:01:01Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > … > First, that sounds like a faulty statistic. How many people were actually killed by stepladders last year? Let’s have a cite for something that outrageous… Probably too early for 2012 figures, but a bit of historical perspective from prior years is available. More than 187,000 Americans were treated in hospitals due to stepladder injuries in 2009. [Cite](http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/06/28/187000-stepladder-injuries-a-year-in-US/UPI-39191309319068/) Of the 617 fatal workplace falls in the United States in 2009, 20% were falls from ladders. That makes for about 123 workplace deaths related to falls from a ladder. [Cite](http://blog.lib.umn.edu/muss0043/falls/blog/) That counts only workplace deaths. According to the World Health Organization, the United States leads the world in ladder deaths. Each year, there are more than 164,000 emergency room-treated injuries and 300 deaths in the U.S. that are caused by falls from ladders. [Cite](http://www.nachi.org/ladder-safety.htm) Now how many deaths per year are attributed to assault weapons? Let’s use the numbers from Sen Feinstein, a strong proponent of the proposed assault weapons ban. > [@Sen Feinstein's press release](#): > > A Justice Department study found the Assault Weapons Ban was responsible for a 6.7 percent decline in total gun murders. However, since the 2004 expiration of the bill, assault weapons have been used in at least 459 incidents, resulting in 385 deaths and 455 injuries. That makes 385 assault weapons deaths over a period of about 8 years… or about 48 per year. Looks like there are about 6 times more ladder deaths in the USA than assault weapons deaths per year based upon those numbers. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-missing-voice-in-the-gun-control-debates/648422)._