Guns or alcohol what kills more each year?

[stadiumjump]

I was talking about this earlier and I'm curious to see what pafoa's thoughts are before I look it up.

All gun-related deaths compared to all alcohol-related deaths worldwide.

[MostlyHarmless]

I was talking about this earlier and I'm curious to see what pafoa's thoughts are before I look it up.

All gun-related deaths compared to all alcohol-related deaths worldwide.

Neither guns, nor alcohol, nor cars kill anything. Killing is caused by greed, negligence, stupidity and similar.

Can't vote on this one, sorry.


Jan

[MikeB0]

Pure statistics will tell you alcohol. Actual cause/instrument/effect, not so much either. I would bet guns are much more often the immediate instrument. Alcohol could be a cause, instrument or more often effect. I bet the cause if ever is rarely either.

[ErSwnn]

I work at a D&A rehab.....there are a lot more people in rehab than in hospitals with gunshot wounds.

[JCWohlschlag]

I voted, but my vote is based upon the fact that I recently looked up a bunch of death statistics to debunk a YouTube video, so I already knew what the correct answer was.

Addendum: I missed the fact that the original poster was looking for worldwide deaths, so never mind.

[TXDMERC73]

more people are killed every year in the United States by drunk drivers then by guns...

[stadiumjump]

yes but I'm talking worldwide gun related (mostlyharmless read the thread before you comment, i never said guns kill people I said gun-related deaths as in when someone dies when a gun is involved. and yes people die as a result of use or misuse of alcohol and guns so stop acting all noble) deaths, which would include anything from the war in iraq to the pirates of africa. likewise on alcohol though

[thatJeffguy]

Ethanol is a deadly poison, guns are inanimate objects. While neither of them kills without a user interface, I'd say that ethanol is more inherently dangerous.

Of course, my real answer would be "ignorant people".

[JCWohlschlag]

After casting my vote in error (thinking the question applied to United States only), I became curious. Let me know in PM or however, if anyone actually finds any credible worldwide statistics for this kind of stuff, because I have not been able to.

It seems a lot of the statistics available only count deaths directly from alcohol, such as alcohol poisoning or alcohol-induced liver failure and stuff like that. I have not been able to find anything on the worldwide number of general alcohol-related deaths. I am also unsure of the credibility of the worldwide firearms-related deaths.

Personally, I also wonder how meaningful such worldwide numbers would be. There are far too many differences in laws and society in general between different regions of the world for the comparison to actually mean that much. A focus on a single country at a time, where the laws and general society for each are known and static, would be much more powerful.

[Lastdefender]

Here is a spoiler so don't look if you still want to guess.

.
.
.
.
.

For the US....

Mortality
•Number of alcohol-induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides: 21,634
•Number of alcoholic liver disease deaths: 12,928

Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2005, Tables 10, 23
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/alcohol.htm

Alcohol-Attributable Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost --- United States, 2001

Excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States (1) and is associated with multiple adverse health consequences, including liver cirrhosis, various cancers, unintentional injuries, and violence. To analyze alcohol-related health impacts, CDC estimated the number of alcohol-attributable deaths (AADs) and years of potential life lost (YPLLs) in the United States during 2001. This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicated that approximately 75,766 AADs and 2.3 million YPLLs, or approximately 30 years of life lost on average per AAD, were attributable to excessive alcohol use in 2001. These results emphasize the importance of adopting effective strategies* to reduce excessive drinking, including increasing alcohol excise taxes and screening for alcohol misuse in clinical settings.......................

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5337a2.htm

So I'm going with the 75,766 for alcohol deaths... Now lets look at firearm deaths....

In 2001 from the Feds own records.... 29,573 firearm deaths in 2001.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/frmdth.htm


No surprise to anyone reading this forum I suppose....