I would guess though that someone getting killed by a gun is much more news-worthy then someone not getting killed because of a gun. {On edit: unless its a bit unique, like a woman, or an old person etc...quite popular self-defense stories then}
"So what are the estimates as to how many more people would die if homeowners weren't so eager to display a firearm? Would the lives saved REALLY outnumber the tens of thousands currently killed? "
No idea - since in most areas 70-80% of the 10,000 killed by gun violence are killed by less then 1% of the population (and often known to police) and typically unrelated to homeowners defending themselves, it would be hard to come up with a number.
"In fact, reading the linked report, I see no justification that owning a firearm saves lives. Especially when we already know that the chance of someone dying from a firearm in the home is substantial."
Justification isn't really the issue - millions of people choose guns for their defense and other lawful uses...that's what justifies owning them (and is supported by the USSC).
"And yet, every single day people die from guns, and there's apparently no number of these deaths large enough to make very many people seriously reconsider the level and kind of gun ownership in this country. Well, a week ago the murder of some police officers almost got that conversation started, but not really."
If everything that can be done is being done to remove the threat from the less then 1% that cause 70-80% of the gun violence*, I think then a reasonable next step would be to start having lawful peoples' rights/ownership evaluated.
*Richmond, Calif: among America’s highest per capita rates of gun violence: 70 percent of their gun violence in 2008 was caused by fewer than 1 percent of the city’s residents.
Cincinnati: less than 1 percent of the city’s population was responsible for 74 percent of homicides in 2007.
Chicago: a city of 2.7 million people, about 1,400 are responsible for much of the violence, all of them are on what the department calls its Strategic Subject List.
Newark: Shootings have increased by nearly half in 2015, drug trafficking, particularly of marijuana and prescription pills, is the main cause of the uptick in gun violence, said the director of the Newark Police Department. Initiatives require police and prosecutors to focus on the small number of lawbreakers responsible for most violent crimes. In Newark, that’s 1,470 people, less than 1 percent of the city’s 277,000 residents
etc. etc.
As Chicago says: “We are targeting the correct individuals,” Mr. Johnson said. “We just need our judicial partners and our state legislators to hold these people accountable.”
Until that time comes, and people are REALLY serious about spending the $$ and instituting the programs they know work, the numbers will be what they are.
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