According to the President in this interview, Americans are killing each other faster than terrorists kill people. It is an interesting statement. The President chose his words here very carefully. They are: "We know that the number of deaths from gun related incidents dwarfs those from terrorist incidents around the world" (I think I quoted that right but you can listen to it yourself).
Okay, in this extremely and carefully worded statement, he is absolutely correct. He is also, and I believe knowingly, completely misleading. He equates all gun deaths in the United States to terrorist gun deaths. That's suicides, accidental shootings, etc. That doesn't pass the BS meter for me. All terrorist gun deaths are murder. Every single one of them. So, if we are going to compare apples to apples, then we can only compare gun deaths in the United States that are murder.
It is true that the oft stated average of 32,000 gun related deaths per year would outstrip terrorism related deaths. However, that is not the apples to apples comparison that is needed. As I stated, an apples to apples comparison would be deaths due to homicide. When that is factored in, the President's statement in this interview, while entirely true, falls apart.
Terrorism related homicides from 2006 to 2014 totaled 161,834, averaging 17,982. This number is well below that 32,000 total I mentioned. It is even low enough that one could use the very descriptive word of dwarfs. However, gun related homicides in the U.S. from 2006 to 2013 totaled 94,071, or an average of 11,759. The recently released 2014 number by the CDC has a number around 11,200, so that is consistent with the average. This clearly shows that the apples to apples comparison of deaths due to homicide, or intentionally killing someone with a gun does not dwarf homicidal rates of terrorist actions, it isn't even larger.
That doesn't mean there are a tragically large number of firearms related homicides and even tragically larger number of firearms related deaths. To me, this post is about perception and this President is all about how he can make something look (my opinion). I am certain the President, or at least those who write his talking points are smart enough to understand the distinction between a homicide and something else, but they clearly don't think most Americans are smart enough to pick up on that difference. If we want to discuss guns and gun violence, so be it, but we should at least be honest in our characterizations of the facts. This is NOT an honest way of dealing with the facts. It is intentionally designed to "inform" Americans of something we supposedly don't know, that we kill more people with guns than terrorists kill people. Well, it isn't true and the President knows it. This is why he has specifically worded the statement he makes. This kind of "specificity of language" is used all the times by politicians to lie by telling the truth. There are lies, damn lies, and statstics. Isn't that the quote? Nonetheless, if we don't call the politicians and policy makers out on their BS, then we choose to allow them to pull the wool over the eyes of the people they claim to represent.
