Police shootings, mass shootings, terrorism, and humanity's descent into madness

[MavzMan]

It's hard to tell if things are truly getting worse or if instant-news is just making it look that way. It's obvious that doom and gloom is the only thing news media wants to show us now. I want to believe that the world is better place than it was 10, 20, 30 years ago, but it's hard when you hear about a 13 year old girl shooting an elderly couple so that she can steal hair supplies.

[spreedom]

Originally Posted by MavzMan

It's hard to tell if things are truly getting worse or if instant-news is just making it look that way. It's obvious that doom and gloom is the only thing news media wants to show us now. I want to believe that the world is better place than it was 10, 20, 30 years ago, but it's hard when you hear about a 13 year old girl shooting an elderly couple so that she can steal hair supplies.

The impression I'm under is that gun-related deaths are up overall and that police shootings (meaning private citizens killing cops) are down.

In 2016, so far 32 police officers have been killed by gunfire (plus one accidental friendly-fire death). Last year it was 42, in 2014 it was 50, and in 2013 it was 32. These figures are according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

So far in 2016, there have been 7909 deaths from gun violence, compared to about 13,000 in 2015. Both reflect about 36 deaths per day. These figures are according to the Gun Violence Archive. The CDC estimates 11,208 firearm homicides in 2013 and 10,945 in 2014. According to the CDC, there are usually twice as many gun-related deaths ruled suicides.

For gun-related homicides, the death rate is about half what it is today than it was in 1980.

For comparison's sake, deaths from terrorism since 2001 are about 0.08% as many as are related to gun-related deaths (homicide, suicide and accidental discharges).