Shootings Costing U.S. $174 Billion Show Burden of Gun Violence

[villager]

Shootings Costing U.S. $174 Billion Show Burden of Gun Violence

By Henry Goldman - Dec 20, 2012


Televised images of Connecticut families grieving the loss of 26 first-graders and educators this week made Alfredo Valentin relive the pain he’s endured since his teenage son was shot dead in New York 18 years ago.

Shock, grief and an obsession with bringing the killers to justice consumed him for years. It brought financial ruin on his family, which had prospered from the real estate brokerage he ran in the Bronx. He lost the business and borrowed money to support his wife and daughters. It took years before he could work again. The damage, Valentin said, is permanent.

A knitted angel hangs under a sign near a cemetery in Newtown.

“You learn how to control the pain, do some work, but your heart isn’t in it, your edge is gone,” said Valentin, 69. “We got used to living with less.”

The impact of gun deaths and injuries go well beyond heartbreak to include billions of dollars of losses to the economy. The cost of U.S. gun violence in work lost, medical care, insurance, criminal-justice expenses and pain and suffering amounted to as much as $174 billion in 2010, according to data compiled by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Maryland.

The nonprofit organization provides cost estimates of illnesses and injuries for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Transportation Department and industry associations, said economist Ted Miller, the group’s principal research scientist.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-21/shootings-costing-u-s-174-billion-show-burden-of-gun-violence.html

[cantbeserious]

1. Another Excellent Reason To Repeal The 2nd Amendment And Outlaw Firearms

eom

[ROBROX]

2. REGULATION AND RESTRICTIONS

What nut requires an assault weapon? All weapons require LOCKS to prevent feeble minded souls from handling a weapon when they should NOT be handled. This country has to many guns and not enough COMMON SENSE.

I have several shot guns, rifles and a gun which are LOCKED and SECURE. I do not have any assault guns since I do not hunt PEOPLE or COMMIT CRIMES. California and many other sane states regulate guns to prevent NUTS from going WILD.

[goclark]

6. What about ADT protecting the home?

I mentioned this in another thread....

[cpwm17]

3. We are much worse off with publicly available guns

Tens of thousands of Americans lose their lives every year from gun violence. A large percentage of Americans suffer the risks associated with guns when we don't own any. We suffer the risks without any of the alleged benefits.

Me personally, I'm tired of constantly being around gun fire when I take hikes along public trails. It ruins the hike, and I always return to my car as quickly as possible. It's like the gun nuts are in charge.

[Leftcoastgary]

4. Check out the places that gun nuts

do their target practice on our public lands. Not only shell casings they won't pick up, but everything from autos to electronic devices, old appliances, broken bottles and anything else they can bring to shoot at.

There are very few if anyone that cleans these public places.

[cpwm17]

5. I've noticed the huge mess the gun nuts make

They tend to be a very selfish crowd.

Oh, and welcome to DU.