BF2S Forums Gun politics, firearms ownership, and US 2nd amendment discussion

Jay wrote:

SuperJail Warden wrote:

Jay wrote:

1 incident per state per year is hardly an epidemic... it's almost like the publisher is looking for cheap click bait headlines in order to push a policy agenda...

How many deaths does something take until it is relevant? Like an actual number.

How about when the number of incidents exceeds the number of annual million dollar lottery winners.

I have been wanting to answer the questions in the title. I found that statistics on lottery winning is hard to come by. Even when the state lottery commissions are required by law to made the information public, they tend to bury the information and you have to do work to dig it up. I have strong indication that on an annual basis, winning tickets that pay out one million dollars or more only number in the hundreds. In contrast, there were 37,261 people killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2008 in the United States (see the report from the National Highway Traffic Satety Administration). So if you are passionate about winning various state lotteries, it makes sense to be passionate about not winning the negative lottery of fatality in a motor vehicle crash too.

As of November 2010, there were only 247 winning tickets paying one million dollars or more (see the previous post with this discussion). To get this information, I had to look up the winning tickets in each of the 58 California counties in the official site of CalLottery. So about 10 people are made millionaires by CalLottery each year (since its inception 25 years ago).

The state of Iowa is more forthcoming. The official site of the Iowa Lottery actually had a press release listing out the stats. The number of Iowa Lottery tickets that have won prizes of $1 million or more (through August 2010) is 110. Once again in the 25 years history of the Iowa Lottery, only 110 people were made millionaires, on average 4.4 per year. For the Iowa Lottery, the odds for winning $100,000 or more are better for sure (1089 winnings so far in 25 years) but the odds are still small.

The state lotteries are in the business of selling dreams. I suspect that they do not want to provide a picture reflecting the true odds of winning big. With all the state lottery commisions across the United States combined, I cannot see how the number of winning tickets ($1 million or more in each one) in one year can be in the thousands. If someone is forking over hard earned cash each week to play the lottery in the hope of winning big, it also makes sense to pay attention to traffic safety in the hope of not winning the negative lottery of death in a car crash.

Last edited by SuperJail Warden (2015-10-15 15:36:54)

coke wrote:

Jay really is a selfish obstinate idiot at times.
Of course though he's a far superior parent to any of those involved.

Last edited by Jay (2015-10-15 15:59:57)

Jay wrote:

coke wrote:

Jay really is a selfish obstinate idiot at times.
Of course though he's a far superior parent to any of those involved.

I live in reality

pirana6 wrote:

When you guys say 50 out of 24 million is an epidemic I can't help but think of this:

(skip to 1:49 if you've seen the video already)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIGhSo7zMVg

Anyway, I don't have an argument in this gun debate either way but I was just reminded of the stat.

Jay wrote:

uziq wrote:

Jay wrote:

I live in reality

so do we. a reality where kids don't often accidentally shoot themselves with guns.

fearsome imagination you have.

Define often. Because 50 out of 320,000,000 is a rounding error.

Jay wrote:

uziq wrote:

Jay wrote:

I live in reality

so do we. a reality where kids don't often accidentally shoot themselves with guns.

fearsome imagination you have.

Define often. Because 50 out of 320,000,000 is a rounding error.

KEN-JENNINGS wrote:

Jay wrote:

Ok, now I've read it and I was right. It's a click bait article for liberals.

lol yes a click bait article on the wonkblog of the Washington Post.  Dude, you are really weird.

Jay wrote:

Gotta invoke child safety, man. It's a rule

Actually it's gun safety, not child safety.  But then again, let's just dismiss this as a cost of doing business. FYI these numbers are only from what has been reported in the (LIBERAL!!!) media, so the actual numbers are more likely higher.  But hey, maybe it's only 2 toddlers per state!

And it was washington post wonkblog, not Slate.  But you'll guess right next time!

Jay wrote:

And fyi, gun safes are equivalent to poll taxes. You're limiting legal gun ownership to only people who can afford expensive approved safes, installed under building permit,  inspected etc.

Last edited by Cybargs (2015-10-15 18:18:28)

Cybargs wrote:

Jay wrote:

And fyi, gun safes are equivalent to poll taxes. You're limiting legal gun ownership to only people who can afford expensive approved safes, installed under building permit,  inspected etc.

mate gun safes are cheaper than the guns themselves.

thats like saying gun safes are equivalent to car insurance and how it's limiting car ownership only to people who can 'afford' expensive insurance and servicing.

KEN-JENNINGS wrote:

Cybargs wrote:

Jay wrote:

And fyi, gun safes are equivalent to poll taxes. You're limiting legal gun ownership to only people who can afford expensive approved safes, installed under building permit,  inspected etc.

mate gun safes are cheaper than the guns themselves.

thats like saying gun safes are equivalent to car insurance and how it's limiting car ownership only to people who can 'afford' expensive insurance and servicing.

Jay's retort to that is people drive without insurance all the time, so there's no point in forcing it on them because people already break the law.