Three Types of Gun Violence and The Need For National Gun Safety Act

Three Types of Homicides and the Need for National Gun Safety Act
I Mass Murder Rampages

(Newtown elementary school, Colorado movie theater, Virginia Tech massacre, Gifford shooting) 19,379 in 2010
IV
Firearms Suicides
II Gang Violence
(Chicago, NYC) No one talks about this!
SYG Killings
Type I Captures national and international attention
Killing of innocent bystanders
Type II Captures local and national attention
III Family & Acquaintance killings

(e.g. Staten Island)
Three types of homicides and one SILENT Killer! Would you try to take a gun away from someone threatening to commit suicide?
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Type III Hardly engages attention, sometimes local or national attention
Summary
I have proposed a simple threefold classification of various types of homicides. Not all homicides involve guns, especially the Type III homicides, which involve family and acquaintance killings. The majority of the murders in NYC borough of Staten Island (considered to be the safest of the five boroughs), to which attention has been called in this context, are Type III homicides and seem to be particularly brutal and vicious. Police can do very little about these types of killings. Guns do NOT play a central role in these killings. In fact, the analysis of the crime statistics even suggests that Staten Island should be totally murder-free! Alas, this seems highly unlikely given the inherent criminal tendencies in human nature that seem to be at the root of these types of homicides. Only religious counseling and appeals to our better nature will help rid society of this type of violence. The Type II homicides, Gang Violence, Stand Your Ground (SYG) killings, and other types of violent crimes that engage our attention, especially in cities like Chicago, seem to be mostly concentrated in what has been called the murder corridor in some 6 to 7 districts out of a total of 25 police districts. Extreme concentrated poverty and lack of economic opportunities (which leads to crimes related to drug trafficking, click here, an easy source of income for the impoverished) seems to be at the root of this type of violence. Police presence and police tactics are particularly effective to fight this type of violence as seen in cities like New York and Chicago. However, being mostly the poor killing the poor, or minorities (primarily blacks) killing each other, it appears that the political willingness to budget police departments is lacking. For example, Michigan Governor Snyder, a Republican, recently rejected a plan to set up a crime mobilization unit in Flint, Michigan, considered to be the most dangerous city in America in 2012. The Type I homicides, the mass murder rampages, such as the Newtown elementary school shootings, engage our attention and become the focus of national gun control debate. However, this is a misplaced priority. Most of these mass murderers seem to be mentally ill and a societal push to address
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mental health issues (and the willingness to budget mental healthcare) should be the higher priority. The real problem with curbing the Type I and Type II homicides is thus one of budgets to fight such violent crimes.
There is a fourth SILENT and UNHERALDED killer lurking amongst us. This is the growing epidemics of firearms-suicides.
Americans, with their the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, and with ready access to guns, are increasingly blowing their own brains off, rather than killing each other, which is the message conveyed by the Type I (mass murders) and Type II (gang violence and most dangerous cities syndrome) homicides. The correlation between suicide rates and gun ownership rates has been highlighted, for example, in a recent article by McElwee (click here) and is also illustrated in Figure 6 of this article. Firearms suicides claimed 19,379 lives in 2010, the latest year for which data is available. In 38 out of 44 states, the number of firearms-suicides is in excess of firearms-homicides. The reduction of these preventable killings should be the focus of a National Gun Safety Act, akin to the National Traffic Safety Act which was passed into law in 1966. Many provisions of the National Traffic Safety Act (the design and engineering of safer cars) were at one time opposed by the automotive industry. The societal benefits are now obvious. Likewise, the societal benefits of anti-smoking laws and the other laws and campaigns that have promoted public health issues (reduction of heart disease, cancer, obesity, etc.) are indisputable. The same goes for the push to reduce firearms suicides which must be the basis for the National Gun Safety Act.
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This is an essay about gun violence. It is NOT based on my personal opinions. Rather it springs from the soil of empirical observations.
It is now a little more than six months since the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school killings shocked the nation and captured the attention of the whole world. America, it was again clear, had lived up to its reputation of being the most violent nation in the whole world. These killings were so brutal and unimaginable that even the NRA was forced into silence, at least for a while. President Obama [1] promised to use whatever power this office holds to ensure that this does not ever happen again. There is no excuse for inaction, he said (click here) back in December 2012. Now, six months later, with the fierce opposition of the NRA and the pro-gun lobby nothing has been accomplished and the White House has declared that it has done just about everything it possibly could on gun violence (click here). Philip Bump [2], writing in the Atlantic Wire (on June 19, 2013), compares this to an athlete stopping in midrace and declaring himself the winner, while in the sixth place! Over the last few months, I have been studying the stats on various types of firearms-related deaths and also the stats on traffic fatality deaths and have posted several articles that can be found on this website; see the reference list at the end of the article and also the bibliography list. My observations are entirely based on this study. Cars are safer now and our roads better engineered and various traffic safety laws (such seat belt laws) have been enacted and are being vigorously enforced. Hence, highway traffic fatalities have been going down year after year, in the US, whereas the firearms-related deaths have been going up. A crossover is widely expected in the near future with more gun deaths than traffic deaths [3], click here. Indeed, the crossover has already taken place in Michigan [4] leading to the quip, If you live in Michigan, youre more likely to die from a bullet than in a motor vehicle accident.
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I just posted a somewhat lengthy comment to a recent Detroit Free Press article [5] which mentioned that two Michigan cities, Flint and Detroit, were ranked among the highest in FBIs Most Dangerous Cities in America list (click here for the article). The article starts with, "after falling for five consecutive years"? Guess what? Exactly the same thing happened with traffic fatalities as well. After falling to historic lows, not seen since 1949, the number of traffic fatalities showed an unexpected and disappointing uptick in 2012. Just a year ago, NHTSA chief, Ray LaHood was willing to pat himself in the back for the progress made in reducing traffic fatalities and the role played by the NHTSA. And now this slap-in-the-face kind of uptick in traffic fatalities! Everyone, including the AAA, is disappointed. The same uptick has also been observed with gun violence. Murder rates were falling for more than a decade and now all of a sudden Chicago recorded 506 homicides in 2012. What happened? There is a reason for this and it has to do with how we analyze crime statistics and traffic fatality statistics. This point is discussed in Appendix 1 where I have considered the most recent FBI data (for 2011) on Violent Crimes across all 50 states. My purpose here is to call attention to the three(*) main types of gun violence and a fourth SILENT killer that is lurking amongst us that no one talks much about; see Figure 1. Those affected by this type of gun violence, family and loved ones, suffer their loss in silence.
______________________________ * Where does the Stand Your Ground (SYG) killings (e.g. Trayvon Martin and the Zimmerman trial, now making the headlines) belong in this threefold classification? These are called justifiable homicides. May be we need a fourth type just for this.
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Guns are not always used in homicides or suicides. The mass murder rampages, like the Newtown, CT shootings, are actually exceptional cases, but we are seeing more and more of them in the last few years (click here ; see http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map). A few examples of this Type I homicide have been cited in Figure 1. This is what the gun control debate tends to focus on. The Type II homicides lead to the most dangerous cities phenomenon. Cities like Flint, Michigan, Detroit, Michigan, Chicago and New York City (there were more than 2200 homicides in NYC in 1990, the number has now declined to 419 in 2012), New Orleans, Washington DC, and Philadelphia, come to mind. The root causes for this type of violence have been studied by criminologists and attributed to factors such as the poverty rate, the gap between the haves and the have-nots, the unemployment rate in these cities and lack of any personal growth opportunities. I have provided some references to such studies at the end of this article. In cities like Chicago, all of the gun violence and the killings are actually restricted to what is called the murder corridor. There are 6 or 7 police districts where the majority of the killings take place, see Figure 2, and the discussion by Professor Lurigio of Loyola College, in Chicago [6]. It is the essentially the poor killing each other. The same applies for cities like Flint, MI, which have been affected by the economic downturn and GMs decision to close its thriving manufacturing operations in that city [5]. This is different from the Type I killing, which often involves suburban young from affluent suburban neighborhoods, like the Aurora movie theater killer (who was a college student, registered to become a neuroscientist) or the Gifford shooting suspect, who are mentally ill and/or have access to guns and dangerous firearms and assault weapons. The sheriff of Genesee County, Michigan, where the city Flint is located, recently proposed a plan to create a violent crime mobile response unit that would cost $3 million. However, Governor Rick Snyder rejected the plan because he believed resources would be better integrated into the ongoing efforts to make Flint safer.
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The first kind is what captures our attention and leads to calls for gun control and the NRA gets into action. The second, honestly, no one gives a damn since it is the poor, by and large, who are primarily affected. Increasing police budgets to fight crime in these poor neighborhoods isnt going to get much support. This is reflected in the polite response from Gov. Snyder to the Flint situation. The Mayors of Chicago and New York, on the other hand, have taken a different approach and vowed to increase police presence to fight such violence. Police tactics, such as the controversial NYPD stop-and-frisk policy, and police presence (long term assignments of police officers in the same police beats) are central to fighting this type of crime and gun violence.
30 25 20 15 11 10 7 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 18 19 20 22 24 25 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 11 24
Homicides in District
20 17 17
20
21
20
14 10 10 6 6
Chicago Police District Number

Figure 2: The district-by-district breakdown of the number of homicides in Chicago. The blue bars are the year-to-date (as of June 16, 2013) murders in 2013. The red bars are the homicides recorded in 2012. In District 1, there were ZERO murders in 2012 and 1 has been recorded to date in 2013. Notice that although the YTD homicides are lower for Chicago than in 2012, a full summer lies ahead. In some districts (No. 14, 15, and 17), the number of
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homicides already exceeds the 2012 year-end figures. Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Chief Kelly have rebuked the City Council of New York for attempting to pass bills (Bloomberg has threatened a veto) to curb the stop-and-frisk policy and also allow citizens to file lawsuits against racial profiling (click here; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732418320457856594359 5548014.html). And, as noted by some political opponents, in mocking the claims of continued declines in Chicago homicides by Mayor Emanuel (see articles by Peters in Slate magazine), budgets for police departments will ultimately determine the effectiveness of such policies. Detroit Mayor Bing also made the same point recently, in his response to Mayor Bloombergs self-flattering comparison of NYC homicide rates with the homicides rates in other US cities (click here). After calling Bloombergs remarks sad and inappropriate, Bing said that if Detroit has the crime rate it has, it is because, the number of police officers on the street is much less than in NYC (40,000 in NYC versus 3000 in Detroit). And, Detroit police do not have the luxury of the stop-and-frisk policy. This brings us to the Type III homicides, the killings of family members and acquaintances. The O. J. Simpson trial, and some others (Scott Peterson, accused of murdering his pregnant wife and Drew Peterson, a police officer, accused of murdering several ex-spouses) that have engaged the national attention (and even international attention) in recent years are probably the most visible reminders of this type of violence. Again guns are not always used in such type of killings. The victims have their throats slashed with a knife or a razor, are bludgeoned with a hammer, or even strangled to death with nothing more than a shirt. It is an estranged spouse, a boyfriend seeking revenge when a girlfriend wants to end a relationship, a mother killing her children, a child killing his parent(s), an upset neighbor seeking revenge, or even gangs killing those whom they already know to exact revenge. Guns seem to be used only in the gang killings, or non-family member killings. There are also rare occasions of road rage motivated killings where guns are factor. A notable example of this is a retired police officer in the New York
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borough of Staten Island (click here). I became more aware of such killings as I studied the gun violence statistics, especially over the last couple of months.
600
A
Homicides (in 2012), y
500
y = mx = 51.25x
400
NYC
300
200
Brooklyn Bronx Queens Manhattan

2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00
100 SI 1.00
0 0.00
Population, x [millions]
Figure 3: The break down NYC murders for the five boroughs. The data for the five boroughs is scattered around the ray for NYC with the equation y = mx, with Brooklyn and Bronx falling above the ray and Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island falling below the ray. The raw data can be found in Refs. [7-9].
Lets digress, briefly, to call attention to this Type III homicides problem in Staten Island. According to my analysis of the low homicide rate in NYC that Mayor Bloomberg bragged about, if we break down NYC into its five boroughs, the homicides data for these five boroughs can be shown to fall above and below the straight line labeled A in Figure 3. The term ray is the name that we will use for a straight line passing through the origin. The ray A has a slope
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m = y/x = the average homicide rate for NYC taken as whole. For 2012, with a population x = 8.175 million (2010 US census), and murders y = 419, the slope m = 419/8.175 = 51.25 homicides per million (or 5.125 per 100,000). The data for the five boroughs can be obtained from NYPD CompStats, see references cited. Each borough has its own ray and its own murder rate m = y/x. This is conventional wisdom.
500
400
y = 51.25x + 42.14
300
200
y = 51.25x 30.55
100
-100 0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00 10.00
Figure 4: Illustration of a work function for the NYC boroughs. Bronx, with the c = 42.14 (slope m for NYC is per million) defines the upper limit of murders. Brooklyn falls below this parallel and is thus safer, with lower murders after adjusting for the population. Queens and Manhattan fall on the lower parallel with Queens setting the lower limit with c = - 30.55. Queens is actually safer than Staten Island, after adjusting for the population. And, so is Manhattan. With the Queens parallel y = 51.25x 30.55 = 51.25 (x 0.596), extrapolating to even
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lower populations means that when the population falls below the cu-off value of x = x0 = 0.596 million, the number of murders should go to ZERO. Hence, Staten Island (with only 10 murders in 2012) should really be murder-free zone. Is this possible? Alas, it seems unlikely since Staten Island seems to experience primarily the Type III homicides (click here for full article).
600
500 400 300 200 100 0 -100 0.00
y = 51.25x
y = 51.25x 14.038
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00 10.00
Figure 5: The 10 murders in Staten Island compared to Queens and Manhattan. The NYC ray still has the equation y = mx = 51.25x. The parallel through the Staten Island data point has the equation y = hx + c with slope h = m = 51.25 and c = -14.038. The extrapolation from Staten lsland to higher populations yields a prediction of 100 murders for Queens (observed is 84, or lower) and 67 murders for Manhattan (observed is 63, or lower). Thus, Queens and Manhattan are actually safer than Staten Island, if we adjust for the population sizes. Notice, however, that the data for the five boroughs follows the reference ray A very closely, almost as if they were on parallels to the ray A. Let us imagine a
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parallel to ray A, through the Queens or the Manhattan data point. Such a parallel has the general equation y = hx + c where the slope h = m = 51.25 as for the ray A. (Parallels have the same slope.) The intercept c = y hx = 84 (51.25)2.231 = -30.55 since murders y = 84 for Queens and population x = 2.231 million. The negative intercept c = -30.55 means that the murders in Queens are actually lower than for NYC taken as a whole, when we adjust for the population differences. Since y = 51.25x 30.55 = 51.25(x 0.596) for the parallel through Queens, see Figure 4, this also means that if we extrapolate to even lower population levels, there is a critical, or cut-off population x = x0 = 0.596 million below which there should be ZERO murders! This is the situation with Staten Island with a population of just 0.469 million. The number of murders observed in Staten Island was 10 in 2012, which is a very low number indeed. However, the analysis, as just described implies that Staten Island should really be totally murder free. The reader is referred to my recent article for a more detailed discussion about why such a conclusion is justified, based on the idea of a work function for homicides (click here). The empirical observation, however, 10 murders in 2012. The data for Staten Island also shows that the number of murders on SI has been decreasing since 1990 and is now at its historically low value. Can Staten Island become totally murder free? This brings us back to the discussion of the Type III homicides and Staten Island provides a sad example of this type of homicide. I have studied the data for Staten Island homicides going all the way back to 1990 and read several articles describing the sad circumstances of these homicides. Without exceptions these homicides all seem to fall under the Type III classification that I have proposed here. Heres some examples. A mentally ill mother killed her four children in a murder-suicide. A young woman in an inter-racial relation got pregnant and got an abortion and the parents of the girl told the couple to cool off their
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relation for a while, but she was sadly strangled to death by her boyfriend, when she tried to break off the relation. An ex-husband killed his wife; years after the marriage had ended. A son killed his parents. An angry neighbor kills to exact revenge. Road rage kills a retired police officer walking to a local restaurant with his wife.
There is nothing police can do about such killings. Guns had little or no role to play in these killings. (I have provided some references to each of the above.) Such killings can never be eradicated. A murder-free Staten Island is thus nothing more than a theoreticians dream! I was reminded of the biblical tale of Abel and Cain. Murder within the family goes back to very ancient times. Can we indeed achieve a murder-free year in Staten Island? According to my analysis, we missed the opportunity in 2012. We have another opportunity in 2019. But, perhaps, religious leaders on Staten Island must take an active part in making this happen. Also, it should be noted that Staten Island is primarily a White neighborhood, with Italy and the Ireland provided the main ethnic roots. This is not blacks killing each other (or some kind of black culture as I have seen some commentators mention in the Internet discussions, especially with regard to crimes in Chicago and Detroit.) But the island is also changing. It now also has a growing Asian immigrant population (Sri Lankan heritage). This again changes the dynamics of the family and acquaintance killings. Can religious counseling be effective? As noted by Detroit Mayor David Bing [10], when he released the Crime and Homicide Statistics for 2012, and I quote, There are things that are happening in homes and families in the communities and in the neighborhoods that whether a cop is there or not, it's not going to stop the crime. We've got to get
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it into the heads and the minds and hearts of our young people and it's going to take all of us to do that. We've just lost respect for each other -- for life, said Bing. It's a terrible problem we're confronted with right now. It's going to take all of us to solve that problem. Bing did not feel having more police officers on the street could have helped curb the type of murders witnessed in Detroit in 2012. Both he and the Detroit Police Chief felt that restricting access to guns is NOT going to solve this kind (Type III) of a homicide. Mayor Bing promised that Thursdays (on Jan 3, 2013) press conference would be the first of a regular series of briefings on public safety in the city of Detroit. This now brings us to the last type of killing highlighted in Figure 1. This is also, perhaps, the most URGENT of all and begs our attention, see Table 1. My analysis of the firearms-related deaths (see references, click here) indicates that in 38 out 44 US states for which data is available, the Suicides/Homicides (S/H) ratio is greater than one and in the remaining states it is actually very close to one. In other words, Americans are not killing each other with their guns, as the highly publicized Type I homicides leads us to believe, or the Type II homicides makes us believe (image of "most dangerous cities" conveys to us). Americans are actually blowing their own brains off with the guns that they have access to, much more frequently than killing each other. Indeed, if we recognize the SERIOUSNESS and the URGENCY of this Type IV gun violence, instead of focusing on the divisive debates of the Type I, Type II and Type III homicides, we can begin to make progress towards enacting a National Gun Safety Act, just like we passed the National Traffic Safety Act in 1966. The firearms-suicides "epidemic" in the US, as I see, is much like the highway traffic deaths "epidemic" experienced in the 1950s and the 1960s. There was a public outcry and then Congress held highly publicized hearings and passed the traffic safety act, which has resulted in many benefits, beyond our imagination, with safer cars and highways.
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Table 1: The Suicides/Homicides Ratio Reveals Americans are Killing Themselves Not Each Other Across States
State Suicides to Homicides Ratio (S/H)
CA TX NY FL IL PA OH MI GA NC NJ VA WA MA IN AZ TN MO MD WI MN CO AL SC LA 1.11 1.86 0.87 1.90 0.77 1.52 1.83 1.37 1.62 1.88 0.72 2.13 4.07 1.10 2.04 2.29 2.00 1.46 0.73 3.57 4.31 4.40 1.60 1.71 0.89
Suicides Homicides State Suicides to Table 5 of Table 4 of Homicides GPP GPP study Ratio study (S/H)
1492 1702 459 1454 442 762 724 601 718 707 187 576 464 138 455 620 585 489 222 378 280 427 454 392 385 1342 913 527 767 577 501 396 440 443 376 260 271 114 126 223 271 293 335 306 106 65 97 283 229 432 KY OR OK CT IA MS AR KS UT NV NM WV NE ID HI ME NH RI MT DL SD AK ND VT WY 3.23 6.27 2.87 1.12 5.21 1.25 2.02 3.09 10.19 3.21 2.68 4.47 2.59 15.17 7.31 1.76 8.29 0.96 3.57
Suicides Homicides Table 5 Table 4 of of GPP GPP study study

404 376 376 110 177 256 266 210 275 289 204 210 106 182 37 95 102 30 141 43 65 107 56 66 83 125 60 131 98 34 205 132 68 27 90 76 47 41 12 13 17 17 45 30
Data Source: America Under the Gun, Ref. [11], by Arkadi Gerney, Chelsea Parsons, and Charles Posner (Click here). The US Postal abbreviation for each state is used. Only 6 of 44 states for which data is available have S/H < 1.
Pardon my Texan (not my French); these idiots are just blowing their own brains off, not each other. The total for 2010 was 19,379 firearms-suicides deaths.
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Heres Another Way to Look at the Three Types of Homicides

I Mass Murder Rampages
(Newtown elementary school, Colorado movie theater, Virginia Tech massacre, Gifford shooting) 19,379 in 2010
IV
Firearms Suicides
II Gang Violence
(Chicago, NYC) Self-directed Violence
SYG Killings
Type I General Rage & Violence Directed at Society
Killing of innocent bystanders
Type II Targeted (Rage) Violence Directed at Strangers
III Family & Acquaintance killings

(e.g. Staten Island)
CDC figure for 2010 is 19,392 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm
Type III Rage & Violence Directed at Family and Acquaintances
Three types of homicides and one SILENT Killer! Would you try to take a gun away from someone threatening to commit suicide?
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20,000
Firearms Suicides, y
19,500 19,000 18,500 18,000 17,500 17,000 16,500 16,000 1998
Total Firearms Suicides 228,202 (1999-2011)
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
Time t [Calendar year]

The hockey stick pattern of rising firearms-suicides in the US (199-2011), starting 2007, similar to that found in climate change studies. In 2011, the latest year for which data is available, there were 19,796 preventable deaths due to firearms-suicides The cumulative total lives lost from 1999 to 2011 equals 228, 202, or nearly a quarter million. Data source: The original research articles are also cited http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
a) Hoyert, Donna L. and Jiaquan Xu.2012.Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2011 - Selected Causes. National Vital Statistics Reports (NVSS).Hyattsville, MD:US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control Prevention, Division of Vital Statistics,10 October. (Q6492)Full Citation b) WISQARS.2009.Injury Mortality Reports 1999 and Onwards (USA). Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System / WISQARS.Atlanta:National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / CDC,9 December. (Q1377)Full Citation c) Jackson, Thomas.2005.Global Gun Deaths. NISAT Firearm Mortality Database 2005.Oslo:Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers,1 January. (Q12)Full Citation d) Curfman, Gregory D, Stephen Morrissey and Jeffrey M Drazen.2008.Handgun Violence, Public Health, and the Law. New England Journal of Medicine.Massachusetts:Massachusetts Medical Society,3 April. (Q1975)Full Citation
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The same outrage must be felt by Americans about this SILENT epidemic of firearms-related suicides. Just like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), we need to focus attention on firearms-suicides and pass a National Gun Safety Act. Alas, family members and friends who are also the victims here cannot speak up, like they can about the other three types of homicides. It seems like a personal failure. One can only suffer in silence. If we focus our attention on the firearms-suicides (it is your own grandmother or grandfather living in Florida, it is your own teenage child off in some college dormitory, it is your own parent, or brother, or sister with easy access to guns), we can see that the easy availability of guns has actually made suicide attempts a sure one-way street to death. Garden hoses can, of course, be used to commit suicide too (a comment I read by someone while making foolish pro-gun arguments). But, how many attempts have been made with a garden hose and how many have succeeded? Often such suicide attempts are botched attempts, especially when one tries to commit suicide without a firearm. Often the person trying to commit suicide is simply seeking help and crying out to the world to pay attention. And, so it is that such suicide attempts are often failures (). The other three types of homicides will automatically fall in place and take care of themselves if we reduce the ready access to firearms with primary goal being the reduction of firearms-suicides. ______________________________________________ According to Bryjak [25], Professor of Sociology, there are almost nine unsuccessful suicide attempts for every suicide fatality. This is explained by the method used to end ones life. Data shows that 85% of gun-related suicides resulted in death (compared to 69% for suffocation, 31% for falls/jumps, 2% for poisoning/overdose, and 1% for cutting/piercing attempts. Also, the impulse to commit suicide is often due to a short term crisis and the availability of firearms given no chance for the person reconsider their actions, unlike other
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non-firearm methods (click here for more details); see article in Forbes by Roger Kay (click here). The US has the highest gun ownership rate in the whole world [11,12]. But, sadly it is the Type IV death, the unheralded firearms suicides which is the BIGGEST problem, not mass murder rampages or the highly publicized "most dangerous cities" stats. On April 1, 2011, US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood [13,14], announced the updated traffic fatalities data for 2010, which were the lowest levels seen since 1949. He then said [14], Despite this good news, we are not going to rest on our laurels. Thats because the number of people killed in preventable roadway tragedies is simply too high; 30,000 deaths is 30,000 too many. And if you lost a loved one to a crash in 2010, or know someone who did, then you know exactly what I mean. This Department will not stop pressing forward on road safety. We will continue working vigorously to protect the lives of everyone who uses our roadways. The same applies for firearms-suicides. In Table 1, I have compiled the suicides and the homicides for all 50 states and highlighted the rather high value for the Suicide/Homicides (S/H) ratio across 38 of 44 states for which data is available for these two gun violence indicators, as we see from the yellow highlights. The Suicides/Homicides (S/H) ratio varies from 1.10 for Massachusetts (MA) to as high as 15.17 for Idaho (ID). Only six states, Delaware (DL), Louisiana (LA), New York (NY), Illinois (IL), Maryland (MD), and New Jersey (NJ) have a S/H ratio of less than 1. Even in these states the S/H ratio varies from a low of 0.72 for NJ to a high of 0.96 for DL. No information (on homicides) is available for six of the remaining states (HI, NH, SD, ND, VT and WY) to determine the S/H ratio.
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The national firearms suicide rate is 6.28 per 100,000 people (see Table 5, in America Under the Gun), or 18,840 preventable deaths in a nation of 300 million. The total in 2010 was 19,379 deaths due to firearms-suicides. Thats 19,379 deaths too many. This is consistent with the data compiled (for 2010) by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (click here). Take a look again at the numbers for 2010. There were 1492 firearms suicides in California, 1454 in Florida, 1702 in Texas, and 459 in New York (which exceeds 419, the number of homicides in NYC in 2012). These are all preventable deaths, aided in large measure by the ready access to firearms.
Would you try to take a gun away from someone threatening to commit suicide?
If the answer is YES, then we must pass a National Gun Safety Act in 2013, or by 2014, at the latest, with the focus being on the SILENT epidemic of firearms-suicides that is sweeping across all 50 states. There is an unmistakable correlation between the number of firearms suicides in a state and the states gun ownership percent; see Figure 6 at the end of the article and the supporting data in Table 2. We must reduce the ready access to firearms. This is the URGENT need of the hour, not the misguided focus on gun control to eradicate mass murder rampages. This is NOT what gun ownership was meant to be. This is NOT what the Second Amendment is all about. This is another sad example of the law of unintended consequences at work. And, there is no one willing to talk about this. The trend as illustrated in Figure 6 is unmistakable. Texas with the highest number of gun owners also has the highest number of firearms-suicides in the
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whole nation. It also appears to me that a large number of senior citizens in Florida are committing suicides. The Florida data point falls well above the trend line suggested by the straight line with the equation y = mx, passing through the origin (0, 0) and the Texas data point. It is also amazing to see the near PERFECT scaling of the lower suicides for CA with TX which, it is now clear, is related to the number of gun owners. Although CA has a higher population, the gun ownership percent and so the number of gun owners is lower and this translates to the lower number of firearms-suicides. It is also interest to note the near PERFECT scaling of the firearms suicides and gun ownership for many other states like OH, PA, VA, MI, IN, GA (battleground states in Presidential elections). The data for all these states (and many others) line up nicely along the line through the Texas point. This suggests nearly perfect homogeneity of factors (social, cultural, emotional, and legal) that lead to the observed firearms-suicides. Legal professional will, I am sure, see the connection now with the weak or strong gun control laws enacted by each state. NY, among the largest states, has a significantly lower gun ownership and therefore also significantly lower firearms-suicides. Firearms-suicides are preventable deaths and needs our URGENT attention. Even the pro-gun lobby and the NRA, it seems to me, should pause and think about this and end their knee-jerk commitment to the right to gun ownership and the Second Amendment. The NSA surveillance programs, now engaging worldwide attention (with the flight of E. J. Snowden), have already exposed how little freedom We The People actually have and/or what we are willing to forego in the name of national security. We are talking about here actual lives may be your grandparent, or parent (look at the data for 65+ year olds), retired and living in Florida. There were 80 firearms-suicides among the 10 to 14 year olds. How did this happen?
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Table 2: Correlation between Gun Ownership in Various States and the Number of Firearms Suicides
State Suicide rate Per 100 K Population in 100 K Gun Ownership % Percent Actual Gun Owners in 100K Table 5 GPP Suicides (Firearms)
CA 4 373.00 21.3 79.45 1492 TX 6.77 251.40 35.9 90.25 1702 NY 2.37 193.67 18 34.86 459 FL 7.73 188.10 24.5 46.08 1454 IL 3.44 128.49 20.2 25.95 442 PA 6 127.00 34.7 44.07 762 OH 6.28 115.29 32.4 37.35 724 MI 6.08 98.85 38.4 37.96 601 GA 7.41 96.90 40.3 39.05 718 NC 7.41 95.41 41.3 39.40 707 NJ 2.13 87.79 12.3 10.80 187 VA 7.2 80.00 35.1 28.08 576 WA 6.9 67.25 33.1 22.26 464 MA 2.11 65.40 12.6 8.24 138 IN 7.02 64.81 39.1 25.34 455 AZ 9.7 63.92 31.1 19.88 620 TN 9.22 63.45 43.9 27.85 585 MO 8.17 59.85 41.7 24.96 489 MD 3.85 57.66 21.3 12.28 222 WI 6.65 56.84 44.4 25.24 378 MN 5.28 53.03 41.7 22.11 280 CO 8.49 50.29 34.7 17.45 427 Data Source: The number of suicides and the suicide rates (for 2010) are from Table 5 of America Under the Gun, Ref. [11], by Arkadi Gerney, Chelsea Parsons, and Charles Posner, GPP study (Click here). The US Postal abbreviation for each state is used. The percent gun ownership is from Gun Owners as a Percentage of Each States Population by Deborah White (click here). Note that all rates and percents are converted into actual gun owners and actual suicides in last columns and then plotted in Figure 6.
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Table 2 (Contd): Correlation between Gun Ownership in Various States and the Number of Firearms Suicides
State Suicide rate Per 100 K Population in 100 K Gun Ownership % Percent 51.7 42.3 44.1 47.7 39.8 42.9 16.7 42.9 55.3 55.3 42.1 43.9 33.8 34.8 55.4 38.6 55.3 6.7 40.5 30 12.8 57.7 25.5 56.6 57.8 50.7 42 59.7 Actual No. of Gun Owners in 100K 24.71 19.55 20.00 20.70 15.25 16.10 5.96 13.07 16.40 16.13 12.01 12.13 9.13 7.16 10.27 7.05 8.67 0.91 5.38 3.95 1.35 5.71 2.29 4.61 4.10 3.41 2.63 3.36 Table 5 GPP Suicides (Firearms) 454 392 385 404 376 376 110 177 256 266 210 275 289 204 210 106 182 37 95 102 30 141 43 65 107 56 66 83
AL 9.5 47.79 SC 8.48 46.23 LA 8.49 45.35 KY 9.31 43.39 OR 9.81 38.33 OK 10.02 37.52 CT 3.08 35.71 IO 5.81 30.46 MS 8.63 29.66 AR 9.12 29.17 KS 7.36 28.53 UT 9.95 27.64 NV 10.7 27.01 NM 9.91 20.59 WV 11.33 18.53 NE 5.8 18.28 ID 11.61 15.68 HI 2.72 13.60 ME 7.15 13.29 NH 7.75 13.16 RI 2.85 10.53 MT 14.25 9.89 DL 4.79 8.98 SD 7.98 8.15 AK 15.07 7.10 ND 8.33 6.72 VT 10.55 6.26 WY 14.73 5.63 Data Sources: As noted already.
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Firearms-Suicides (in 2010), y
2000
1500
FL CA
TX
1000
VA AZ
OH
GA PA Y MI
500
0 0.00
MN N
20.00
NY
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
Gun Owners, x [in 100,000]

Figure 6: The actual number of firearms-related suicides (in 2010) is plotted here against the actual number of gun owners (based on population and gun ownership percent for each state). Without regards to the legislative strengths of the gun laws in the state (Weak or Strong gun laws as classified by the Brady Campaign and the Law Center to Prevent Violence) we see a simple linear relationship between the number of suicides and the number of gun owners. The conclusion is unmistakable: reducing the access to firearms in individual homes will reduce the epidemic of firearms suicides. Note that no rates or percentage are used. This is a straight correlation based on the actual numbers. The root source for the firearms-suicides data is the CDC and Deborah Whites compilation is used for gun owners. The straight line illustrating the general trend is the ray passing through the Texas data point. Texas with the highest number of gun owners (9.025 million, or 90.25 in units of 100K) also has the highest number of suicides (1702). Florida with 1454 suicides falls above this line, which means that after accounting for the difference in the population (and thus gun owners) there are more suicides in Florida than in any other state of the union.
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80 2046 2594 2914 4092
Age-group 10 to 14
15 to 14
25 to 34
35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65+ Total
19,392
3387 4276
Pie chart illustrating the breakdown of the U.S. Firearms-Suicides in 2010, by age group. Data Source: 10 Leading Causes of Injury Deaths by Age Group, Highlighting Violence-Related Injury Death, US 2010, by CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/pdf/10LCID_Violence_Related_Injury_Deat hs_2010-a.pdf . Firearms-suicides is the 4th leading cause of death for all agegroups, except the 10 to 14 age group for which it is the 5th leading cause. (The total of 19,379 is based on values reported in Table 5 of America Under the Gun). This is not the 18th century where the idea of an armed militia ready to overthrow an oppressive government was supported by the founding fathers. No armed militia is going to march into Washington D.C. in the 21st century and overthrow the U. S. government. All freedoms that we cherish have to be balanced against other over-riding societal concerns (as argued by the President to justify the NSA Surveillance Programs). At this point, the general opinion seems to be that E. J. Snowden should be charged with the crimes and extradited to the US to stand trial. It is the circus surrounding his extradition that is now engaging attention, not whether he is a hero or a traitor. Congress has not called (at least not yet) for any public hearings on the wholesale spying of US citizens by the Executive branch of the government.
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21,000 20,000
Firearms Suicides, y
Total Firearms Suicides 228,202 (1999-2011)

18,223
19,796 19,392 18,735
19,000 18,000 17,352 17,108 17,002 16,599 16,907 16,883 16,869 17,000 16,750 16,586 16,000 15,000 14,000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Time t [Calendar year]

Bar graph showing the rising number of firearms-suicides in the US, from 1999 to 2011. In 2011, the latest year for which data is available, there were 19,796 preventable deaths due to firearms-suicides The cumulative total lives lost from 1999 to 2011 equals 228, 202, or nearly a quarter million. Data source: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states original articles cited
I can only analyze data like I have done here. I can write about it and call attention to this SILENT epidemic. But, I am not a law maker. I am not a lawyer. I am not a political activist. I do hope someone who is paying attention and will now take the next steps that we must be taken to curb the growing epidemic of firearms suicides. Let the NRA mobilize its members and draft the legislation we need to reduce firearms-suicides. I am sure they will find all the support they
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need. The lives they save might just be the life of one of their own loved ones, a family member, or a dear friend.
Lets not wait till that next self-directed gunshot is fired! God Bless America.
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Myths about Gun Control

Just found the following interesting comment in an article on Five Lies the Gun Lobby Tells You, by Zack Beauchamp, Dec 14, 2012, see http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/14/1340531/five-lies-the-gunlobby-tells-you/?mobile=nc (click here)
Jonathan Gottlieb Top Commenter University of North Carolina School of the Arts It is time to punish the NRA and keep the gun lobbyist out of congress and state lawmakers in a new constitutional amendment and the 2nd amendment needs to be reformed. I believe there needs to be very strict background checks before anyone can buy a gun, and guns should only be allowed in your home to defend your property from danger and not allowed to be taken out of your home under any circumstances expect for hunting in a very small and limited amount. Reply 151 Like Follow Post December 14, 2012 at 6:44pm
@ Jonathan G: Excellent points. You have said in few words what many haven't been able to say, especially about not being allowed to take guns out of the home, except for hunting etc. In short, the matter is not gun ownership; it is the regulation of what is done with it. Having said that, let me now call your attention to the following about firearms suicides that is often overlooked in this whole debate. The firearms Suicides/Homicides ratio is greater than one in 38 out of 44 states for which data is available. In 2010, the latest year for which data is available there were 19,379 deaths due to firearms suicides. http://www.scribd.com/doc/150134853/Three-Types-of-Gun-Violence-andthe-Need-for-National-Gun-Safety-Act
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Appendix 1 Ratio Analysis and the Linear and Nonlinear laws relating various types of fatalities
As I have tried to show in several articles cited in the references, in 2012 there was a sudden and inexplicable uptick in traffic fatalities, and also overcall violent crime rates, both of which had been declining for many years. This is a fake uptick and arises entirely because of the absurdly foolish way(s) we are now using simple y/x ratios to analyze complex problems. We are glibly using (or rather abusing) of simple y/x ratios without investigating the nature of the relationship between x and y. The result is a mass of confusion and the often heard exasperation, Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics! Or, No thats comparing apples and oranges! In gun violence analysis, y is the number of murders and x the population. The ratio y/x gives the murders per 100,000 population. We use this ratio to compare cities, like Mayor Bloomberg did recently [14,15]. Or, the ratio stands for the number of violent crimes per 100,000 population [5]. The violent crimes stat includes murders, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. With traffic fatalities, the numerator y is the highway deaths and the denominator x is the total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by all Americans (number of vehicles multiplied by average miles per vehicle). The use of such simple ratios often leads to misleading conclusions, such as the sudden uptick in gun violence deaths and traffic fatalities after years of steady declines. The problem is much more complex and deserves a more carefully analysis of the nature of the x-y relation. The problem with the use of y/x ratios can be traced to an important but largely overlooked mathematical property of ratios, as I have discussed in several articles; see the link below to the most recent article where I have discussed the homicides problem in various cities. The ratio y/x = m is a
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constant if and only if the straight line passes through the origin (such as ray A in Figure 3). More generally, if the (x, y) pairs fall on a nice upward sloping straight line, which does not pass through the origin, the general equation describing the x-y relation of interest to us is y = hx + c, which means the ratio y/x = m = h + (c/x) can either increase or decrease as x increases in a complicated manner, depending on the numerical values of h and c. http://www.scribd.com/doc/147960590/Mayor-Bloomberg%E2%80%99sComparison-of-the-Homicide-Rates-in-Chicago-Detroit-and-New-York-Is-Reexamined For example, a careful analysis of the gun deaths and traffic deaths data reveals a rather simple linear relationship between the variables x and y of the type y = hx + c. The nonzero intercept c means that the ratio y/x = h + (c/x) is NOT a constant and can either increase or decrease as x increases. Three different possibilities can be envisioned and all three are observed when we analyze both the gun deaths and the traffic deaths data. 1. Type I Positive slope, negative intercept (h > 0, c < 0): Both x and y increase as x increases. The ratio y/x also increases with increasing x. For example, the homicide rates (the ratio y/x) can increase as population x increases and the number of homicides also increase. If x is revenues and y is profits, this means the profit margins increase as revenues increase. If x is the labor force and y is the number of unemployed, the unemployment rate increases as the labor force increases and the number of unemployed increases. 2. Type II Positive slope, positive intercept (h > 0, c > 0): Both x and y increase as x increases. However, the ratio y/x decreases with increasing x. For example, we arrive at the odd conclusion that the homicide rates (the ratio y/x) are decreasing as the population x increases and the number of homicides y also increase. Or, the unemployment rate is decreasing as the number of unemployed is increasing (with an increasing labor force). Or, the profit margins are falling even as profits are increasing (with increasing revenues).
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3. Type III Negative slope, positive intercept (h < 0, c > 0): The variable x and y have an inverse relationship. As x increases, y decreases. Also, the ratio y/x decreases with increasing x. For example, we profits decrease even as revenues increase and the profit margins also decrease. Or, the number of traffic fatalities decrease even as more miles are driven and thus the traffic fatality rate decreases as well. Or, the homicides rates with decreasing homicides and an increasing population. (We sometimes see this when we consider data for different districts or precincts of a single large city.)
Violent crimes (in 2011), y
50,000
Type I Behavior
40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
Figure A1: Example of Type I behavior. Violent crimes (murders, rapes, robbery and aggravated assaults) in 2011 in the eight US states with names beginning with the alphabet M: Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, and Montana. The Type I straight line, with the equation y = hx + c = 4643x 1965 joins the extreme points and reveals the general trend here. The violent crime rate, the ratio y/x = 4643 (1965/x) increases as the population increases.
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30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000
10,000
Type II Behavior
5,000 0 0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
Figure A2: Example of Type II behavior. Violent crimes in 2011 in the four US states with names beginning with the alphabet A: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, and Arkansas. The Type II straight line (h > 0, c > 0), with the equation y = hx + c = 3870.3x + 1585.8 joins the extreme points and reveals the general trend here. For these states, the violent crime rate, the ratio y/x = 3870.3 + (1585.8/x) decreases as the population increases.
The failure to recognize the above complexities inherent in how the y/x ratio behaves is the fundamental reason for the historically low violent crime rates in 2011 and then a sudden uptick in crime rates the following year, see links given below. Amazingly, the same happened with the traffic fatality rates as well. a) FBI: Violent crimes rates in the US drop, approach historic lows, by Andrew Mach, June 11, 2012 http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/11/12170947-fbiviolent-crime-rates-in-the-us-drop-approach-historic-lows?lite b) U. S. violent crime Up for the first time in years, by Terry Frieden, October 17, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/17/us/violent-crime
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c) NHTSA: Traffic Deaths Shot up 5.3 Percent to 34,080 in 2012, by Tanya Snyder, May 3, 2013, http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/05/03/nhtsa-traffic-deaths-shot-up-53-percent-to-34080-in-2012/ d) Traffic Deaths Fell to Record Low in the U. S., Reuters, May 5, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/us-2011-traffic-deathsrecord-low_n_1498344.html
45,000
40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 0.00
Type III Behavior

2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00
Figure A3: Example of Type III behavior. The violent crimes in 2011 for a few states sorted by population, between Virginia (highest population) and South Carolina (lowest population). Wisconsin falls below this line. The Type III straight line (h < 0, c > 0) has the equation y = hx + c = -3171.5x + 41598.5 joins the VA and SC data points. All kinds of rationalizations are immediately offered for the historical lows and then replaced (in the case of traffic fatalities within a few months) by new rationalizations to explain the uptick. How can trends established due to behavioral changes and enforcement of traffic laws reverse so dramatically if long term policy changes (as discussed by various experts) resulted in the
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decline? Overlooked in this rationalization of the trends in the y/x ratio is the nature of the x-y relation since no one seems to have bothered to actually prepare a x-y diagram like I have tried to do here. (Homicides or Violent Crimes versus Population, or traffic fatalities versus the vehicle miles traveled, see references for details). The more general law, which encompasses all these three types of linear laws is the nonlinear law y = mxne-ax. The x-y graph now reveals a maximum point since the slope, given by the mathematical derivative of this function, dy/dx = (n ax)(y/x), is positive for small values of x < n/a, and is negative for large values of x > n/a. The maximum point occurs when dy/dx = 0, i.e., at x = n/a. The three linear laws mentioned above are actually linear segments of this more general nonlinear law. The nonlinear law is observed in both traffic fatalities studies (for the US taken as a whole) and also when we analyze gun violence data, for a single city, or community, over a multi-year period; see references for more details. For the special case of a = 0, y = mxn and dy/dx = n(y/x). Now, there is no maximum point and the graph has either an increasing slope (n > 1) or a decreasing slope (n < 1) as x increases. The ratio y/x is again not the same as dy/dx, the rate of change of y as the variable x increases. For the special case of a = 0 and n = 1, y = mx and we recover the linear law. The nonzero intercept c should be added for generality to both the linear law and the nonlinear law. What is the significance of the nonzero c? In his famous 1905 paper (which fetched him the Nobel Prize in physics, not his theory of relativity), Einstein uses the term work function to describe the nonzero c in the photoelectric law, which can be written as K = E W = hf W = h(f f0). This is a linear law of the type y = hx + c. Very briefly, Einstein was describing what happens when light shines on the surface of a metal. Einstein first shows, using the nonlinear law just noted, y = mxne-ax (this is known as
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Wiens law in radiation physics), that light can thought of as a stream of particles (called photons). When the photons bombard the surface of the metal, electrons are produced, as revealed by experiments with metals like lithium, sodium zinc, copper, etc. The variable y = K is the maximum kinetic energy of the electron. The variable E = hf = hx is the energy of the striking photon (particle of light) with x = f being the frequency of the light. Not all of the photon energy E is transferred to the electron. Some must be given up, to overcome the forces binding the electron to the metal. Einsteins law implies that the K-f graph will be a straight line with a slope h, the Planck constant. If we conduct experiments with many different metals, the K-f graph will be a family of parallels (as envisioned here for the five boroughs of NYC). This was confirmed in the experiments of Millikan who critically tested Einsteins photoelectric law, see references. The nonzero intercept c = - W is the energy that must be given up and is called the work function. This will depend on the nature of the metal upon which light shines. More generally, the same name work function can also be applied to the nonzero intercept c in the linear law y = hx + c, that is often observed when we analyze our (x, y) observations on a wide range of problems outside physics. Specifically, this idea of a work function can be used to understand the many complex factors that affect gun violence related deaths or traffic-fatalities; please see Figure 6 in Appendix 1 of Mayor Bloomberg comparisons article; see Ref.[28]. This is also illustrated here with the violent crimes data for 2011, obtained from FBI website (click here). The photoelectric work function tells us something about the difficulty of producing a free electron from within a metal using a photon. The gun violence work function tells us about the difficulty of observing the gun violence outcome of interest (a homicide, a suicide, a violent crime, and so on).
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Table 3: Violent Crimes Statistics for 2011 from the FBI Uniform Crimes Report
State State Abbrev. CA TX NY FL IL PA OH MI GA NC NJ VA WA MA IN AZ TN MO MD WI MN CO AL SC LA KY Population Rate per million 411.08 408.47 398.10 515.28 429.29 355.02 307.36 444.43 373.24 349.76 308.38 196.66 294.60 428.37 331.84 405.88 608.18 447.35 494.09 236.91 221.24 320.18 420.05 571.89 555.22 238.16 Population millions 37.692 25.675 19.465 19.058 12.869 12.743 11.545 9.876 9.815 9.656 8.821 8.097 6.830 6.588 6.517 6.483 6.403 6.011 5.828 5.712 5.345 5.117 4.803 4.679 4.576 4.369 Violent Crimes 154,944 104,873 77,490 98,199 55,247 45,240 35,484 43,893 36,634 33,774 27,203 15,923 20,121 28,219 21,626 26,311 38,944 26,889 28,797 13,532 11,825 16,383 20,174 26,760 25,406 10,406
California Texas New York Florida Illinois Pennsylvania Ohio Michigan Georgia North Carolina New Jersey Virginia Washington Massachusetts Indiana Arizona Tennessee Missouri Maryland Wisconsin Minnesota Colorado Alabama S. Carolina Louisiana Kentucky
37,691,912 25,674,681 19,465,197 19,057,542 12,869,257 12,742,886 11,544,951 9,876,187 9,815,210 9,656,401 8,821,155 8,096,604 6,830,038 6,587,536 6,516,922 6,482,505 6,403,353 6,010,688 5,828,289 5,711,767 5,344,861 5,116,796 4,802,740 4,679,230 4,575,836 4,369,356
Data Source: FBI Uniform Crimes Report for 2011. The data is sorted by population (descending).
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Table 3 (Contd): Violent Crimes Statistics for 2011 from the FBI Uniform Crimes Report
State State Abbrev. OR OK PR CT IO MS AR KS UT NV NM WV NE ID HI ME NH RI MT DE SD AK ND VT DC WY Population Rate per million 247.58 454.78 284.35 272.77 255.56 269.80 480.91 353.92 195.01 562.14 567.52 315.89 253.17 200.89 287.24 123.18 187.98 247.50 267.48 559.45 254.10 606.46 246.95 135.21 1,202.11 219.31 Population millions 3.872 3.792 3.707 3.581 3.062 2.979 2.938 2.871 2.817 2.723 2.082 1.855 1.843 1.585 1.375 1.328 1.318 1.051 0.998 0.907 0.824 0.723 0.684 0.626 0.618 0.568 Violent Crimes 9,586 17,243 10,540 9,767 7,826 8,036 14,129 10,162 5,494 15,309 11,817 5,861 4,665 3,184 3,949 1,636 2,478 2,602 2,670 5,075 2,094 4,383 1,689 847 7,429 1,246
Oregon Oklahoma Puerto Rico Connecticut Iowa Mississippi Arkansas Kansas Utah Nevada New Mexico W. Virginia Nebraska Idaho Hawaii Maine New Hampshire Rhode Island Maine Delaware S. Dakota Alaska North Dakota Vermont DC Wyoming
3,871,859 3,791,508 3,706,690 3,580,709 3,062,309 2,978,512 2,937,979 2,871,238 2,817,222 2,723,322 2,082,224 1,855,364 1,842,641 1,584,985 1,374,810 1,328,188 1,318,194 1,051,302 998,199 907,135 824,082 722,718 683,932 626,431 617,996 568,158
If all this seems too confusing, just think about the familiar tax law and the marginal tax rate. The US tax code is actually a series of straight lines (click here) with the general equation y = mx + c where the slope m is the marginal tax rate (I have used the more descriptive m instead of h, intentionally), y is the tax owed and x the taxable income. The slope m keeps increasing as the taxable income x increases. The range of income for which m is constant is called the tax bracket.
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No one talks about the ratio y/x when discussing the tax problem. It is always the marginal tax rate, the slope m = dy/dx = (y - c)/x. Except for the lowest tax bracket (for which c = 0), the marginal tax rate m is never equal to the ratio y/x because of the nonzero c. The ratio y/x is simply the fraction (or percent, after multiplying by 100) of total income paid as taxes. May be we should abolish the tax tables which only serves to dumb it all down for the US taxpayers who cannot tell the difference between the ratio y/x and the ratio dy/dx = y/x. The latter is the true measure of the rate of change of y as x increases (or decreases). When do we use which ratio?
200,000
CA
150,000
100,000
FL MI IL NY
TX
50,000
VA
0 0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
Figure A4: The Violent Crimes in 2011 for all the 50 US states (and the District of Columbia, Washington DC) is plotted here as a function of the population (click here for data). California with the highest population also had the highest number of violent crimes. The straight line, passing through the origin, with the equation y = mx = 4110.8x is superimposed here to describe the general overall
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trend. Thus, the violent crime rate for California y/x = m = 4110.8 per million, is the slope of the ray A which passes through the origin. Similar rays passing through the origin and the (x, y) pair for each state can be envisioned. This is the conventional wisdom and hence we think of the crime rate as varying in an apparently confusing manner (and draw misleading conclusions as illustrated by the Type I ad Type II lines for the states with names beginning with the alphabets M and A). Notice the almost PERFECT scaling with population for the violent crimes with population in CA, TX, NY, IL, and MI to name a few. Why does the violent crimes for FL fall above this reference line? One can always draw a ray with a higher slope m through FL, which is the current method of analysis. Instead, we envision a parallel to the ray A with the equation y = hx + c where the slop h = m (parallels have same slope) and intercept c = y hx where (x, y) are the values for FL. Hence, c = 19,857 and this positive work function explains the higher violent crime rate in FL compared to all the other states. The work function, or positive intercept c tells us something about the rather unique crime environment in FL (as opposed to so many other states). Likewise, we see some states that fall below the ray A, notably Virginia. For VA, the work function, or the nonzero intercept c = y hx = 15,923 (4110.8)8.097 = -17,361. This explains the lower violent crime rate in VA. These changes in work function between the states imply differences which cannot be accounted for by the difference in the population alone. The crime environment, or the nonzero intercept c, or the work function is thus telling us something about the demographics (FL with a large senior citizen population is probably a good example) and the effectiveness of various gun laws enacted by the states (the so called weak and strong gun law states; see America Under the Gun, as cited by McElwee). Baseball statistics also help us understand the meaning of a work function; see again the references cited here, especially the articles on Babe Ruth and Miguel Cabrera. The At Bats (x) and Hits (y) in baseball are again related by the simple law y = hx + c and so the batting average BA = y/x = h + (c/x) keeps increasing or decreasing as the At Bats (x) increase. This depends on the nonzero intercept c, the work function for the baseball player, or a measure
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of the players skill, in addition to many other complex factors that determine the outcome known as hits (or home runs if y is home runs instead of hits). Returning to gun violence, what is most disappointing to me is the misleading data on the trends in gun ownership in the US; see Refs. [17-22]. Two different surveys seems to indicate that the percentage of American homes with a gun has been declining over the last two to three decades. The NRA refuses to accept such claims citing increased gun sales and also the increasing number of background checks in various states. If we cannot agree on something as simple as the number of guns owned and the number of American homes with a gun, we can hardly hope to make any progress at all to curbing gun violence and associated deaths. We know exactly how many cars are on the road and except every car on the road to be properly registered and the operator to have a valid drivers license (and also minimum insurance in most states). But, we cannot seem to be able to agree on what to do with guns when they are sold. It is not as if one is buying a bag of potatoes or a hamburger. I see fake equivalences being increasingly drawn by the pro-gun lobby, ever since NYC Mayor Bloomberg made the observation (following the Newtown elementary school killings) that gun deaths in the US might soon exceed the deaths due to motor vehicle accidents. I still cannot get over the following comment that I found in one of the pro-gun blogs. I am reproducing it to the best of my recollection. Just as many people die due to traffic accidents every year, but I don't see anyone trying to take away my car. Or, Okay, lets ban cars! Sad, indeed! This is the most eloquent effect of the general dumbing down of all national debates that have occurred with the mindless use of y/x ratios and the inability to see the apples and the oranges. This is what the ordinary person thinks about the gun control debate. The rates cited for the gun deaths and traffic accident deaths are y/x ratios (deaths per 100,000 population).
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Heres another recent example from the comments made in an article on guns ownership and gun deaths (or violence) from policymic. (The author is a Pundit in this community.) http://www.policymic.com/articles/41033/gun-control-debate-2013-gunsand-gun-violence-go-hand-in-hand#comment-anchor
2 weeks ago (as of June 28, 2013)
The author includes the misleading argument "reducing guns reduces gun violence." That is true, just as banning cars reduces automobile accidents. The question is, or at least should be, does banning firearms reduce violence? The answer to that is a resounding no. The UK has had a virtually unchanged homicide rate since 1900. This despite increasing restrictions on private ownership of firearms. In fact the Home Office has released two papers to Parliament in late 2012 describing the threat of knife violence, as knives account for approximately one-third of all weapons used in homicides. So if banning firearms does NOT reduce overall violence or the overall homicide rate, why do it? The answer is politics, not facts.
Vj Laxmanan 10 hours ago (as of 11:17 PM on June 16, 2013)
So, if someone is threatening to commit suicide and brandishing a gun, you will do nothing?
Vj Laxmanan 10 hours ago
And regarding your false equivalence of banning guns and cars -- may be you forget that guns are designed to kill but cars are not!
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We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted or deluded by such fake arguments about car deaths
and gun deaths and continue to dig our heels in.

The epidemic of Firearms-Suicides that I am calling attention to here is a real one that is affecting your loved ones, a family member, or a dear friend, regardless of which side of the gun debate you are on. Please think about it. And, ask Congress to enact a National Gun Safety Act, akin to the National Traffic Safety Act.
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Reference List
1. These Tragedies Must End, Obama Says, by Mark Landler and Peter Baker, December 16, 2012, There is no excuse for inaction. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/us/politics/bloomberg-urgesobama-to-take-action-on-gun-control.html?pagewanted=all 2. The White House May Have Done Just About All It Can on Gun Violence, by Philip Bump, Atlantic Wire, June 19, 2013, http://www.govexec.com/management/2013/06/white-house-may-havedone-just-about-all-it-can-gun-violence/65165/?oref=river 3. American Gun Deaths to Exceed Traffic Fatalities by 2015, by Chris Christoff and Ilan Kolet, Dec 19, 2012, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-19/american-gun-deaths-toexceed-traffic-fatalities-by-2015.html 4. As cars get safer, gun deaths eclipse traffic fatalities, by Pat Shellenberger, Bridge Magazine Contributor, April 9, 2013, http://bridgemi.com/2013/04/as-cars-get-safer-gun-deaths-eclipsetraffic-fatalities/ 5. FBI Data Ranks Flint, Detroit highest on Most Dangerous Cities in America list, June 14, 2013, by Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com/article/20130614/NEWS05/306140059/FBIdata-ranks-Flint-Detroit-highest-Most-Dangerous-Cities-America-list 6. A city under siege: 5 beliefs about homicides in Chicago, by Arthur J. Lurigio, July 26, 2012, http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120726/NEWS02/12072984 0/a-city-under-siege-5-beliefs-about-homicides-in-chicago 7. New York City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City with population of each borough (July 2012 estimates) 8. USA: New York City Boroughs, http://www.citypopulation.de/php/usanewyorkcity.php Populations of all boroughs, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2012 9. If NYCs Boroughs Were their Own Cities, http://www.nakedapartments.com/blog/population-nyc-borough/ 10. Murder Detroit: Mayor Dave Bing Releases 2012 Crime, Homicide Statistics, Jan 3, 2013, HuffPost Detroit,
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/detroit-murders-2012bing_n_2402372.html 11. American Under the Gun, http://www.americanprogress.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/03/AmericaUnderTheGun.pdf Full report here. 12. A 50 State Analysis of Gun Violence and its Link to Weak State Gun Laws, by Arkadi Gerney, Chelsea Parsons, and Charles Posner, April 4, 2013, Center for American Progress Report, Brief discussion here, http://truth-out.org/news/item/15524 13. US Transportation Secretary LaHood Announces Lowest Level of Annual Traffic Fatalities In More than Six Decades, NHTSA21-11, December 8, 2011, Updated 2010 fatality data, http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/U.S.+Transportatio n+Secretary+LaHood+Announces+Lowest+Level+Of+Annual+Traffic+Fatal ities+In+More+Than+Six+Decades lowest level not seen since 1949. 14. Record low traffic deaths encourage continued road safety efforts, April 1, 2011, US Department of Transportation, Fast Lane http://fastlane.dot.gov/2011/04/record-low-traffic-deaths-encouragecontinued-road-safety-efforts.html#.UcmvEpzQ69U 15. News from the Blue Room, For Immediate Release, April 30, 2013, http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3da f2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc _name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F201 3a%2Fpr151-13.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1 Last year, we had a
record low 419 murders. If instead we had had Washington, DCs murder rate, nearly 1,200 New Yorkers would have been murdered last year instead of 419. If we had Chicagos murder rate, more than 1,400 New Yorkers would have been murdered last year instead of 419. If we have Philadelphias murder rate, more than 1,700 New Yorkers would have been murdered last year instead of 419. If we had Baltimores, it would have been more than 2,900 murders last year. And if we had had Detroits murder rate, more than 4,500 New Yorkers would have been murdered last year instead of 419. Thats a factor of ten. Not only are you saving all those lives by preventing those murders, youre also keeping young people from going to jail and to prison.
16. News from the Blue Room, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly Announce 2012 Sets All-Time Record for Fewest Murders and Fewest Shootings in New York City History, December 28, 2012, http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3da
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f2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc _name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F201 2b%2Fpr489-12.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1 17. Gun Control Debate 2013: Guns and Gun Violence go hand in hand, by Sean McElwee, http://www.policymic.com/articles/41033/gun-controldebate-2013-guns-and-gun-violence-go-hand-in-hand/658699 18. The Declining Culture of Guns and Violence in the United States, by John Sides, July 21, 2012, http://themonkeycage.org/2012/07/21/thedeclining-culture-of-guns-and-violence-in-the-united-states/ Two separate graphs, one showing a peak in violent crimes rates per 100,000 around 1992 and the second showing decrease in percent of households with guns. 19. Share of Homes with Guns Show 4-Decade Decline, by Sabrina Tavernise and Robert Gebeloff, March 9, 2013; see graph below. Note that the NRA spokesperson, Andrew Arulanandam, is quoted in the article as doubting these numbers and cites brisk gun sales (evidenced by growing number of background checks) and long wait for gun training classes. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/us/rate-of-gun-ownership-isdown-survey-shows.html?pagewanted=all
20. Self-Reported Gun Ownership in U. S. Highest since 1993, by Lydia Saad, (Gallup Poll data) Oct 16, 2011 http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/self-reported-gun-ownershiphighest-1993.aspx
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21. Statistics on Gun Deaths & Injuries, Law Center to Prevent Violence,
http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-deaths-and-injuries-statistics/ Nov 16, 2012.
22. The Striking Relationship Between Gun Safety Laws and Firearms Deaths, by Richard Florida, March 7, 2013; only Figure 2C is reproduced below and shows positive correlation with gun ownership and number of gun deaths per 100,000. http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img/upload/2013/03/07/chartlarge.jpg
23. Gun Owners as a Percentage of each States Population, by Deborah White, former About.com Guide http://usliberals.about.com/od/Election2012Factors/a/Gun-Owners-AsPercentage-Of-Each-States-Population.htm 24. The Best Way to End Gun Violence? End the War on Drugs, by Gary W. Patterson, Jr. http://www.policymic.com/articles/22331/the-best-way-toend-gun-violence-end-the-war-on-drugs 25. Guns and Suicide, by George J. Bryjak, December 12, 2012, https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/534 468/Guns-and-suicide.html?nav=5041
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26. Who Knew? The Leading Cause of Gun Deaths is Suicides, by Roger Kay, Jan 22, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerkay/2013/01/22/whoknew-the-leading-cause-of-gun-death-is-suicide/ 27. Searching for Hard Data on Guns and Violence, by Matthew Herper, Forbes, December 16, 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/12/16/searchingfor-hard-data-on-guns-and-violence/
NYC and Staten Island Homicides Related Articles and Some Examples of the Types of Homicides
28. Mayor Bloombergs Comparison of the Homicide Rates in Chicago, Detroit, and New York is Re-examined, Published June 15, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/147960590/MayorBloomberg%E2%80%99s-Comparison-of-the-Homicide-Rates-in-ChicagoDetroit-and-New-York-Is-Re-examined 29. Can Staten Island Become Murder Free? Yes. Thats what the Generalized Idea of Einsteins Work Function Teaches Us, Published June 20, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/148989688/Can-StatenIsland-Be-Murder-Free-Yes-That-s-What-the-Generalized-Idea-of-Einsteins-Work-Function-Teaches-us 30. Staten Island couples domestic fight leads to murder, suicide attempt, by John M. Annese, February 18, 2013, First murder in 2013, husband kills estranged wife by repeated stabling; of 10 murders in 2012 three related to domestic violence two stabbings and one brutal beating. http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/fight_fuels_murdersuicide_bid.html 31. Staten Island man commits murder to get even victim (a neighbor) had spit on wifes face, cops say, by John Doyle, October 11, 2011, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/staten-island-man-commitsmurder-victim-spit-wife-face-cops-article-1.962534 32. Leisa Jones killed herself, four children in deadly Staten Island blaze, rules medical examiner, by Will Cruz, July 29, 2010,
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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/leisa-jones-killed-childrendeadly-staten-island-blaze-medical-examiner-rules-article-1.201104 Leisa Jones, http://murderpedia.org/female.J/j/jones-leisa.htm Staten Islands murder rate is lowest since 2004, Staten Island Advance, by John M. Annese, December 24, 2012, Two cases of husband killing wife in 2012 (one denies the charge, other has confessed). Domestic violence case of father killing daughters boyfriend. http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/staten_islands_murder_r ate_is.html Ex-husband Charged in Staten Island Murder, by Jen Chung, in The News, February 3, 2007, Bitter divorce, stalking of ex-wife, over payment for divorce settlement, then shot his ex-wife; only example of gun use. http://gothamist.com/2007/02/03/exhusband_charg.php Forbidden romance, a heated argument, and a grisly Staten Island murder, by Frank Donnelly, April 22, 2012, Staten Island Advance, http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/forbidden_romance_a_h eated_arg.html , Murder committed in 1976 by strangling with shirt, parole denied for the eighth time in 2012. NJ man loses appeal in hammer killing of mistress, a Staten Island daughter, AP, March 12, 2012, http://www.silive.com/southshore/index.ssf/2012/03/nj_man_loses_app eal_in_hammer.html Son in Staten Island murders was brilliant, athletic but his demons were the death of parents, by Peter N. Spencer, October 15, 2010, http://www.silive.com/southshore/index.ssf/2010/10/son_in_staten_isla nd_murders_w.html The son was mentally ill, threatened to kill parents, the 61-year old father took sons hunting rifles to 123rd precincts gun buyback program; both parents killed by repeated stabbing. Killer ex-cops final indignity, Staten Island Advance, by Jeff Harrell, June 25, 2008, http://www.goshindosamurai.com/vitalearts.html Road rage triggered shooting by ex-cop. 30 Members and Associates of Two Staten Island-Based Violent Gangs Charged with Crack Cocaine Distribution and Firearms Violations, Including Six Shootings, Feb 25, without year,
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http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/30-members-and-associates-of-twostaten-island-based-violent-gangs-charged-with-crack-cocaine-distribution-andfirearms-violations-including-six-shootings-71828762.html
References to Related Articles on Various Topics

The two Bibliography lists include detailed links to articles on various related topics with only a few being listed here. Gun violence related articles are listed first. 1. Bibliography - I, Articles on Extension of Plancks Ideas and Einsteins Ideas beyond physics, Compiled on April 16, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/136492067/Bibliography-Articles-on-theExtension-of-Planck-s-Ideas-and-Einstein-s-Ideas-on-Energy-Quantum-totopics-Outside-Physics-by-V-Laxmanan 2. Bibliography - II, Articles on Extension of Plancks Ideas and Einsteins Ideas beyond physics, Compiled on June 14, 2013, Published on June 15, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/147955814/Bibliography-II-of-VLaxmanan-Articles-on-the-Extension-of-Planck%E2%80%99s-andEinstein%E2%80%99s-Ideas-Beyond-Physics-with-Examples-from-theObservations-on-Finan
1. Gun Violence and Firearms-related Deaths

3. Alert!!! Gun Violence in America: The Suicides/Homicides Ratio Reveals that Americans are Killing Themselves Not Each Other Across States, Published May 14, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/141451669/Gun-Violence-in-AmericaAmericans-Are-Killing-Themselves-NOT-Each-Other-Across-States 4. Michigan Firearms Related Suicides: The Linear Suicides-Population Law, Published May 14, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/141334599/Michigan-Firearms-RelatedSuicides-The-Suicides-County-Population-Law
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5. Brady Campaign State Rankings and the Firearms-related Death Rates: Einsteins Work Function Reappears, Published May 13, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/141292101/The-Brady-Campaign-StateRanking-and-the-Firearms-Death-Rates-Einstein-s-Work-FunctionReappears 6. Comparison of the Strong and Weak Gun Law States and the Ten States with Highest Level of Gun Violence: Least Squares Analysis of the Data, Published May 10, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/140536622/Comparison-of-the-Strong-andWeak-Gun-law-States-and-the-Ten-States-With-Highest-Levels-of-GunViolence-Least-Squares-Analysis-of-the-Data 7. Gun Deaths Statistics, The Method of Least Squares and the Overlooked Property of a Straight Line, Published May 8, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/140152581/Gun-Death-Statistics-and-theMethod-of-Least-Squares-and-the-Forgotten-Property-of-a-Straight-line
2. Baseball and Sports Statistics

The idea of a work function can also be deduced by considering game by game logs of leading baseball players. The articles also provide a simple way to understand the difference between the y/x ratio and the ratio dy/dx or y/x. 8. Babe Ruths 1923 Batting Statistics and Einsteins Work Function, Published April 17, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/136489156/BabeRuth-s-1923-Batting-Statistics-and-Einstein-s-Work-Function 9. Babe Ruth Batting Statistics and Einsteins Work Function, To be Published April 17, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/136556738/BabeRuth-Batting-Statistics-and-Einstein-s-Work-Function 10. The Method of Least Squares: Predicting the Batting Average of a Baseball Player (Hamilton in 2013), Published May 7, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/139924317/The-Method-of-Least-SquaresPredicting-the-Batting-Average-of-a-Baseball-Player-Hamilton-in-2013 11. Miguel Cabreras Career WAR and Batting Average: An Amazing Correlation http://www.scribd.com/doc/145839586/Miguel-Cabrera-sPage | 50
12.
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Career-Wins-Above-Replacement-WAR-and-Batting-Average-BA-AnAmazing-Correlation Miguel Cabreras Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Batting Average: An Amazing Correlation, Published June 5, 2013. http://www.scribd.com/doc/145839586/Miguel-Cabrera-s-Career-WinsAbove-Replacement-WAR-and-Batting-Average-BA-An-AmazingCorrelation What is the Big Difference Between the Wilson and Cabrera Eras? Published June 3, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/145626322/What-isthe-Big-Difference-Between-the-Wilson-and-the-Cabrera-Eras-in-Baseball The Batting Average and Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for all the batting Leaders in 2013 Season (to date), Published June 6, 2013. http://www.scribd.com/doc/146052658/The-Batting-Average-BA-andWins-Above-Replacement-WAR-Relation-for-the-Batting-Leaders-in-the2013-Season What is Wrong with Ratio Analysis? Baseball Offers an Interesting Example with Wide Applications, Published May 31, 2013. http://www.scribd.com/doc/144798463/What-is-Wrong-With-RatioAnalysis-Baseball-Offers-an-Interesting-Example-with-Wider-Applications Is Miguel Cabrera on Pace to Break Hack Wilsons Single-Season RBI Record?, Published May 28, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/144083838/Is-Miguel-Cabrera-on-Pace-toBreak-Hack-Wilson-s-Single-Season-RBI-Record-YES-Can-I-Changed-MyMind-on-This-Read-On-Now Fundamental Concepts in Data Analysis, Published May 29, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/144351498/Fundamental-Concepts-in-DataAnalysis Trust Me, the Financial World will Change Forever if Wall Street Starts Analyzing Financial Data like we do Baseball Stats, Published May 26, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/143781795/Trust-Me-the-FinancialWorld-will-change-forever-if-Wall-Street-starts-analyzing-financial-datalike-we-do-baseball-stats-Miguel-Cabrera Instablog at Seeking Alpha, Trust Me, The Financial World will Change forever if Wall Street Starts Analyzing Financial Data Like we do
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Baseball Statistics: Miguel Cabrera, Posted May 26, 2013, http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/958073-vlaxmanan/1894301-trustme-the-financial-world-will-change-forever-if-wall-street-starts-analyzingfinancial-data-like-we-do-baseball-statistics-miguel-cabrera 20. Instablog at Seeking Alpha: What is Wrong with Ratio Analysis? Baseball Again Offers an Interesting Example, Published on May 31, 2013,
http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/958073-vlaxmanan/1910731-what-iswrong-with-ratio-analysis-used-by-wall-street-baseball-again-offers-aninteresting-example
3. Highway Traffic Fatalities

Please also see other articles on this topic in Part I of this Bibliography and also the Reference Lists here. 21. Highway Fatalities Trend Shows its First Uptick in Six Years: Predicting the Crossover with Firearms Deaths, Published May 18, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/142199172/Highway-FatalitiesTrend-Shows-Its-First-Uptick-in-Six-Years-Predicting-Crossover-withFirearms-Deaths 22. The Correlation Between Highway Traffic Deaths and the US Economy, Published May 20, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/142526685/The-Correlation-BetweenHighway-Deaths-and-the-US-Economy 23. Is VMT Even the Proper Metric to Determine Traffic Fatality Rates? http://www.scribd.com/doc/143156075/Is-Vehicle-Miles-Traveled-VMTEven-the-Proper-Metric-to-Determine-Traffic-Fatality-Rates, Published May 23, 2013.
4. The Reinhart-Rogoff Microsoft Excel error and the Debt/GDP ratio

24. An MIT Non-Economists View of the Harvard-UMass Debt/GDP Ratio and Economic Growth Debate, Published April 26, 2013,
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http://www.scribd.com/doc/138076426/An-MIT-Non-Economist-s-Viewof-the-Harvard-UMass-Debt-GDP-Ratio-and-the-Economic-Growth-Debate 25. Iceland Votes Against Austerity: Analysis of Icelands Debt-GDP, Published April 28, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/138345921/Iceland-Votes-AgainstAusterity-Analysis-of-Iceland-s-Debt-GDP-Data-2002-2012 26. A Brief Survey of the Debt-GDP Relations for Some Modern 21st Century Economies, Published May 1, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/138912093/A-Brief-Survey-of-the-DebtGDP-Relationship-for-Some-Modern-21st-Century-Economies 27. Is the US National Debt Out of Control: The Trillionaires Club of Nations, Published May 2, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/139114239/Is-US-National-Debt-Out-ofControl-The-Trillionaires-Club-of-Nations 28. The Method of Least Squares: The GDP-Debt Relation for the Trillionaire Club of Nations, Published May 4, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/139348541/The-Method-of-Least-SquaresThe-GDP-Debt-Relation-for-the-Trillionaires-Club-of-Nations
5. Airline Quality Ratings

Mathematically speaking, the analysis now being used here is amazingly similar to the composite rankings that we develop for various companies in the annual Fortune 500 and Forbes 500 and other list for companies. In the case of airlines, the y/x ratio is shown to favor smaller airlines, with fewer flights (and hence higher On-Time Arrivals and fewer Missed Baggages, Denied Boardings, and Customer Complaints). Investigating the nature of x-y relation here will need to new insights. 29. Airline Quality Report (AQR): Analysis of On-Time Arrival Percentages, Published April 18, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/136760664/Airline-Quality-Report-2013Analysis-of-the-On-Time-Percentages
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Physics References on Einsteins Photoelectric law

1. On Cathode Rays, Nobel Lecture, May 28, 1906, by Philip Lenard, http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1905/lenardlecture.pdf The puzzling aspects of Lenards findings in photoelectricity are explained by Einsteins photoelectric law (specifically, the cut-off frequency which also means a lack of dependence on the intensity of light radiation) and are also discussed very nicely by Millikan. Lenard mentions Hertzs discovery of the effect of ultraviolet light on metals ((photoelectric effect; curious spark) on page 121 of his Nobel lecture. Earlier, he also states on page 107 also that he was a laboratory assistant to Hertz. Lenard mentions lack of dependence on the intensity of the radiation (ultraviolet) on page 123. 2. On a heuristic point of view about the creation and conversion of light, by A. Einstein, 1905, Einsteins original paper which showed light can be viewed as particles with fixed energy quanta,
http://www.ffn.ub.es/luisnavarro/nuevo_maletin/Einstein_1905_heuristic.pdf
3. On a heuristic point of view concerning the production and transformation of light, Paper 5, in Einsteins Miraculous Year: Five Papers that changed the face of physics, Princeton Univ. Press (1998). http://press.princeton.edu/einstein/materials/light_quanta.pdf 4. Einsteins Quanta, Entropy, and the Photoelectric Effect, by Dwight E. Neuenschwander, Excellent discussion about how Einstein arrives at his conception of light quanta from the property called entropy possessed by radiation in the form light,
http://www.sigmapisigma.org/radiations/2004/elegant_connections_f04.pdf
5. Einsteins Photoelectric Equation and Contact Electromotive Force, by R. A. Millikan (click here), Phys. Rev., Vol. VII, No. 1 (1916), Second Series, pp. 18-32. In this first paper, published in 1916, Millikan provides only two data points (V0 and f values) for the experiments with lithium metal. 6. A Direct Photoelectric determination of the Plancks h, by Robert A Millikan, (click here) Phys. Rev. Vol. VII No. 3 (1916), Second Series, pp. 355-390 http://mapageweb.umontreal.ca/leonelli/PHY3320/millikan.pdf
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10. 11. 12.
13. 14.
More detailed experiments with lithium (5 data points) and sodium (6 data points) are presented in this second paper, also published in 1916. The electron and light quant from experimental point of view, May 23, 1924, Nobel Lecture, by Robert Millikan, see Figure 4 on page 63, for experiments with sodium. The straight line graph for photoelectric experiments confirms Einsteins law. The slope of the graph gives the universal Planck constant h, one of the fundamental constants of nature. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1923/millika n-lecture.pdf The Photoelectric Effect, by M. Brandl, Project PhysNet, http://www.ifsc.usp.br/~lavfis/BancoApostilasImagens/ApEfFotoeletrico /The%20Photoelectric%20Effect%20-%20m213.pdf See sketch on page 5 showing parallel lines (K-f graph) for sodium and potassium. Focus: Centennial Focus, Millikans Measurement of the Planck constant, Phys. Rev. Focus 3, 23 (1999), April 22, 1999, by Gerald Holton, http://physics.aps.org/story/v3/st23 The Millikan experiment to verify the Photoelectric relationship, http://tap.iop.org/atoms/quantum/502/file_47016.pdf Photoelectric Effect, http://physics.tutorvista.com/modernphysics/photoelectric-effect.html Theoretical concepts in physics, by M. S. Longair, Cambridge University Press (1984). http://www.amazon.com/Theoretical-Concepts-PhysicsAlternative-Reasoning/dp/052152878X Chapters 9 to 15 (case studies IV and V) and also chapters under Case Study II (Maxwell equations and electromagnetism) are highly recommended and cover the Planck and Einstein laws which are actually founded upon Maxwells work. Quantum Mechanics, Heisenberg and Einstein (1925-1927), http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p07c.htm How Einstein Himself Derives the Worlds Most Famous Equation, E = mc2, Published June 8, 2013, http://www.scribd.com/doc/146483302/How-Einstein-Himself-Derivesthe-World-Most-Famous-Equation
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About the author V. Laxmanan, Sc. D.

The author obtained his Bachelors degree (B. E.) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Poona and his Masters degree (M. E.), also in Mechanical Engineering, from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, followed by a Masters (S. M.) and Doctoral (Sc. D.) degrees in Materials Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. He then spent his entire professional career at leading US research institutions (MIT, Allied Chemical Corporate R & D, now part of Honeywell, NASA, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), and General Motors Research and Development Center in Warren, MI). He holds four patents in materials processing, has co-authored two books and published several scientific papers in leading peer-reviewed international journals. His expertise includes developing simple mathematical models to explain the behavior of complex systems. While at NASA and CWRU, he was responsible for developing material processing experiments to be performed aboard the space shuttle and developed a simple mathematical model to explain the growth Christmas-tree, or snowflake, like structures (called dendrites) widely observed in many types of liquid-to-solid phase transformations (e.g., freezing of all commercial metals and alloys, freezing of water, and, yes, production of snowflakes!). This led to a simple model to explain the growth of dendritic structures in both the groundbased experiments and in the space shuttle experiments. More recently, he has been interested in the analysis of the large volumes of data from financial and economic systems and has developed what may be called the Quantum Business Model (QBM). This extends (to financial and economic systems) the mathematical arguments used by Max Planck to develop quantum physics using the analogy Energy = Money, i.e., energy in physics is like money in economics. Einstein applied Plancks ideas to describe the photoelectric effect (by treating light as being composed of particles called photons, each with the fixed quantum of energy conceived by Planck). The mathematical law deduced by Planck, referred to here as the generalized power-exponential law, might
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actually have many applications far beyond blackbody radiation studies where it was first conceived. Einsteins photoelectric law is a simple linear law and was deduced from Plancks non-linear law for describing blackbody radiation. It appears that financial and economic systems can be modeled using a similar approach. Finance, business, economics and management sciences now essentially seem to operate like astronomy and physics before the advent of Kepler and Newton. Finally, during my professional career, I also twice had the opportunity and great honor to make presentations to two Nobel laureates: first at NASA to Prof. Robert Schrieffer (1972 Physics Nobel Prize), who was the Chairman of the Schrieffer Committee appointed to review NASAs space flight experiments (following the loss of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986) and second at GM Research Labs to Prof. Robert Solow (1987 Nobel Prize in economics), who was Chairman of Corporate Research Review Committee, appointed by GM corporate management.
Cover page of AirTran 2000 Annual Report

Can you see that plane flying above the tall tree tops that make a nearly perfect circle? It requires a great deal of imagination to see and to photograph it.
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The Immortal Words: How to Live in this World?

The following immortal verses of the Bhagavad Gita (which has captured the attention of the worlds greatest philosophers, scientists, social and political leaders) come to mind when I think of the three types of homicides that have been discussed here. In the threefold classification described on page 16, it is rage that has been suggested as the root cause for the violence directed at society, strangers, family and acquaintances. When one is overcome by anger (krodha) or rage (the extreme and uncontrollable form of anger), one becomes completely deluded (summoha). When one is deluded one loses the power of discrimination and all the moral codes that have been learned (smruti vibhrama). When one has lost this power of discrimination, the intellect (buddhi) itself is completely destroyed (naasha). With the destruction of the intellect comes the destruction of the self (pranashyati, the religious implication being untold suffering in hell). When I read about the Staten Island murders, I could not help remember these verses. Heres the link to the original verses with commentaries by prominent spiritual leaders. What is the root cause anger (or rage) that leads to all of the above? Our deeply held desires, which turn into lust, greed, and avarice, when unfulfilled, or obstructed from being fulfilled by others. This instills the rage that is unleashed as violence upon all those mentioned above. http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-02-61.html The verses dealing with rage and its effects are verses 62 to 64 of chapter 2, click on link for discussion. Verse 64 tells us that conquering all the attachments (desires) and curbing our hatred will ultimately lead to lasting blissful peace. http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Articles/xtra.html Extraordinary personalities reflect upon the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Albert Einstein When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous.
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http://www.asitis.com/2/62.html Translation and commentary by ISKCON founder and spiritual leader Srila Prabhupada http://www.sankaracharya.org/gita_bhashya_2.php#1 Translation of the commentary by Adi Sankara, the modern founder of Advaita philosophy. http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/bgita/bgita_04.html Commentary here skips the verses 62 to 64 completely but provides a good summary of the entire teaching on How to Live in this World.
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Three Types of Gun Violence and The Need For National Gun Safety Act

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Three Types of Gun Violence and The Need For National Gun Safety Act

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Three Types of Homicides and the Need for National Gun Safety Act

I Mass Murder Rampages

Killing of innocent bystanders

Type II Captures local and national attention

III Family & Acquaintance killings

Type III Hardly engages attention, sometimes local or national attention

Chicago Police District Number

Brooklyn Bronx Queens Manhattan

Homicides (in 2012), y

Homicides (in 2012), y

500 400 300 200 100 0 -100 0.00

Suicides Homicides Table 5 Table 4 of of GPP GPP study study

Heres Another Way to Look at the Three Types of Homicides

Killing of innocent bystanders

Type II Targeted (Rage) Violence Directed at Strangers

III Family & Acquaintance killings

CDC figure for 2010 is 19,392 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm

Type III Rage & Violence Directed at Family and Acquaintances

19,500 19,000 18,500 18,000 17,500 17,000 16,500 16,000 1998

Total Firearms Suicides 228,202 (1999-2011)

Time t [Calendar year]

Firearms-Suicides (in 2010), y

Gun Owners, x [in 100,000]

80 2046 2594 2914 4092

Total Firearms Suicides 228,202 (1999-2011)

19,796 19,392 18,735

Time t [Calendar year]

Myths about Gun Control

Violent crimes (in 2011), y

Violent crimes (in 2011), y

30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000

Violent crimes (in 2011), y

Type III Behavior

Violent crimes (in 2011), y

2 weeks ago (as of June 28, 2013)

Vj Laxmanan 10 hours ago (as of 11:17 PM on June 16, 2013)

Vj Laxmanan 10 hours ago

and gun deaths and continue to dig our heels in.

References to Related Articles on Various Topics

1. Gun Violence and Firearms-related Deaths

2. Baseball and Sports Statistics

3. Highway Traffic Fatalities

4. The Reinhart-Rogoff Microsoft Excel error and the Debt/GDP ratio

5. Airline Quality Ratings

Physics References on Einsteins Photoelectric law

10. 11. 12.

About the author V. Laxmanan, Sc. D.

Cover page of AirTran 2000 Annual Report

The Immortal Words: How to Live in this World?

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