Gun deaths tragic, but a tiny percentage

Re: “Who really needs protection in U.S.?” letter, March 16. Comparing the number of deaths by guns in America between 1968 and 2011 (1.4 million) and deaths in all American wars between the American Revolution and the Iraq war (1.2 million) might be a way to emphasize how violent America is with its “right to bear arms” constitutional protection.

However, it bears noting some other statistics for greater context: Every year, about 2.6 million Americans die from all causes. If death by guns accounts for only 11,385 of those, then we’re looking at a little less than one-half of one per cent of all annual deaths in America that are attributable to guns.

While one could argue that in a perfect world, even one death by guns is a tragedy, the aforesaid statistic is hardly overwhelming. The top 10 causes of death in the U.S. account for 75 per cent of all deaths, and death by guns is nowhere near any of them.

On average, 136,000 Americans die in accidents every year, of which about 31,000 are motor-vehicle collisions. Just some perspective we smug Canadians might want to take into account before we bash our American neighbours for being so dreadfully violent.

Furthermore, the way things seem to be going with President Donald Trump, I think Americans should be far more concerned about the possibility of his getting America involved in another one of those wars than about how many of them are killed by guns every year. Barry Gaetz Victoria