Guns: killing or saving? America's gun problem

Five people waiting at a bus stop in New Orleans were shot during a police shootout with a robbery suspect. What happened : Sheriff Ferguson said detectives had been investigating two armed robberies in the city's 6th district when they identified a person of interest near a bus stop at the intersection of Canal Street and Elk Place at 6:43 p.m. The detectives called uniformed officers to help question the suspect, but when they attempted to engage, the individual pulled out a weapon and began firing. Victims: Five bystanders - all adults - were struck during the exchange of gunfire. Four were in stable condition. One was in critical condition and required surgery. Details: The gunfire continued down Elk Place toward Tulane Avenue, where the robbery suspect fired at a state police officer who was responding to the "officer in danger" code. The officer returned fire, hitting the suspect, who died at University Hospital. The police chi

Let’s be clear. The biggest thing people worry about with guns in the US is homicide . There are lots of ways to look at the data, and most don’t make the US look very good. This series was produced with support from the NIHCM Foundation. Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh5mMm7IECU

Below are 21 facts that help explain how guns factor affect American life.  31:   Percentage  of American households that reported having a firearm in 2014, the lowest level of reported gun ownership in the last 40 years.   22.4:  Percentage  of adults in the U.S. who owned a gun as of 2014, up a bit from a record low of 20.6 percent in 2010.   23 million:  Number of background checks the FBI  conducted  in 2015, nearly three times the 8.5 million completed in 2000.   11 million:  Number of guns  made in the U.S. in 2013, the year after the Sandy Hook massacre. That’s more than twice as many as the 5.4 million firearms produced in 2010.  48:  Percentage of Americans who  cite protection  as the main reason to own a gun, while 32 percent said hunting. In 1999, 49 percent of Americans said hunting was the main reason to own a gun, while just 26 percent said protection.  15:  Number of minutes  that passed in 2016 before the first shooting of the year occurred — a