# Who is more likely to injure me with a gun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021 "2016-06-10T14:18:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/21 "2016-06-10T20:45:05Z")
[Don’t forget the police.](http://www.sltrib.com/news/1842489-155/killings-by-utah-police-outpacing-gang) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/22 "2016-06-10T23:23:25Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > How often does this actually result in a shooting? Cite? I don’t think a prevalence of cite-able cases is needed. The videos illustrate the road rage revenge with a firearm is occurring, and the proliferation of the videos through social media is probably having a chilling effect with many drivers already. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/23 "2016-06-11T00:11:59Z")
Well, if you don’t have any guns in the house and don’t go practice or target shooting, and aren’t a criminal, and don’t live in a crime-ridden area, that kind of only leaves ex- and current spouses/SOs who might come around and shoot you. There is a remote possibility you’ll get accidentally caught up in a crime event (bad time to go to the convenience store) or meet up with a crazy concealed-carry person who thinks he lives in a comic book, but the odds are quite low. Leaving the important question: are you on good terms with all of your current and ex- romantic partners? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/24 "2016-06-11T00:28:32Z")
[QUOTE=spamforbrains;19396067or meet up with a crazy concealed-carry person who thinks he lives in a comic book, [/QUOTE] That is a good example of why we shouldn’t let everyone carry a gun-or even look at them, in some cases. But I apologize, for I digress. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/25 "2016-06-12T06:40:07Z")
[http://www.shotspotter.com/policy-implications](http://www.shotspotter.com/policy-implications) > **[The geography, incidence, and underreporting of gun violence: New evidence...](https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-geography-incidence-and-underreporting-of-gun-violence-new-evidence-using-shotspotter-data/)** > > This paper provides new evidence on the extent of underreporting of gun violence. Criminal activity is often selectively underreported – that is, underreported in a non-random manner. This can make it difficult to understand public safety problems... Shotspotter technology recently made news, showing that gunfire is significantly under-reported nationwide. Many more shots are fired than police statistics have traditionally captured. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/26 "2016-06-12T07:17:00Z")
Boyo Jim writes: \> Who is more likely to shoot me? A criminal with malicious intent, or someone else \> in possession of a gun? In the former category I would include, for examples, \> being robbed at gunpoint, a gang shootout where I am hit by a stray bullet, etc. In \> the latter category I would include hunters who miss their targets, neighbors who \> miss a home invader or who have an accidental discharge while handing a gun, \> cops who miss their target, celebratory idiots who fire guns up in the air, etc. It’s hard to tell from your question, but I think you’re missing a number of the categories of people who shoot people. If you mean by a “criminal with malicious intent” just the sort of career criminals who shoot other people (who are sometimes other criminals) in the midst of crimes like robbery, you’re missing various other sorts of shootings. One is the people who shoot people that they know very well. There are lots of cases of people shooting wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, ex-wives, ex-husbands, ex-girlfriends, children, parents, siblings, other relatives, friends, neighbors, etc. because they are angry at them. In some cases they hire other people to kill people they know. There are lots of cases of people shooting themselves (i.e., committing suicide). There are lots of cases of children picking up loaded guns that are left sitting around and accidentally shooting someone in their own family (including themselves). Sometimes adults accidentally shoot themselves or other people. Sometimes people kill an almost random set of other people (i.e., shootings by serial or spree or mass murders). ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/27 "2016-06-12T13:36:58Z")
Swimming pools are [more dangerous](https://epidemiological.net/2015/01/30/guns-swimming-pools/) than guns. Swimming in pools with armed bathers is most dangerous of all (statistically like shooting fish in a barrel). If a pool salesman endangers your life trying to sell you a swimming pool…shoot him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/28 "2016-06-13T02:01:41Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > According to [page 84 of this PDF from the CDC](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf) found on [this site](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm), in 2013 the 33,636 firearms deaths broke down like this: > > Unintentional: 505 > Suicide: 21,175 > Homicide: 11,208 > Undetermined: 281 > Legal Intervention/War: 467 > > So unintentional firearm deaths are extremely low. And if we delve deeper into the homicide statistics, I would be a lot would be criminal-on-criminal activity. Get along with your neighbors and don’t hang out with criminals and your chance of getting shot is exceedingly low. A lot of shootings must involve negligence or recklessness. We might think of them as accidental and also as unintentional (in so far as the person with the gun did not intend to kill anyone), but they’re going to turn up in the “homicide” category above, since killing somebody negligently or recklessly is usually going to be some form of homicide. The “unintentional” category, I’m guessing, is largely populated by people shooting themselves by accident (which the OP is not at much risk of, obviously) and people who are shot by toddlers or children. (Fun fact: more people are shot by toddlers in the US than are shot by the police in the EU.) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/29 "2016-06-13T17:23:05Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > (Fun fact: more people are shot by toddlers in the US than are shot by the police in the EU.) I’ve raised two toddlers in the US and I’ve been careful to keep them from guns. My youngest tried to murder me with a fork though. The popular meme, by the way, is [toddlers killing more people than terrorists](http://www.snopes.com/toddlers-killed-americans-terrorists/). Cited as technically true by Snopes (in 2015 at least). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/30 "2016-06-13T17:28:47Z")
Can we build walls around them and make their parents pay for 'em? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/31 "2016-06-13T19:25:51Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Can we build walls around them and make their parents pay for 'em? That’s a damn good idea! \*Soundproof \*walls. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/32 "2016-06-13T19:47:19Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Who is more likely to shoot me? [ol] [li]Your spouse.[/li][li]Your child.[/li]_(These first 2 cover about 75% of shootings._ [li]Yourself, accidentally.[/li][li]A parent or sibling, or another relative.[/li][li]A criminal trying to rob you.[/li][li]A criminal accidentally, while committing another crime.[/li]_(The following ones are vanishingly rare – you’re more likely to be struck by lightening.)_ [li]A neighbor, accidentally.[/li][li]A police officer arresting you.[/li][li]A terrorist or mass murderer.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/33 "2016-06-13T20:01:19Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > [LIST=1] > [li]Your spouse.[/li][li]Your child.[/li]_(These first 2 cover about 75% of shootings._ cite? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/34 "2016-06-14T00:36:25Z")
> **[Expanded Homicide Data Table 10](https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl10.xls)** ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021/35 "2016-06-14T02:46:19Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > That’s a valid bit of data, so I’ll add that I don’t live in a rural area where I might reasonably think that hunters are operating within range of my home. Deer rifles have surprisingly long range. I stay out of Wisconsin in Deer Season. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-more-likely-to-injure-me-with-a-gun/757021.md?page=1)