That article uses the same old "creative" manipulation of statistics that the gun control lobby has been pounding for years. They're half-truths and misrepresentations, if not outright lies, and they always have been.
The article states that firearm ownership increases the risk of being a victim of violent crime. What is conveniently ignored, however, is that a large number of people choose to own a firearm because they are already at high risk for being the victim of a violent crime. Using the same logic as this supposed "study", we could also conclude that taking antibiotics makes one more likely to die of a bacterial infection. Even more insidious, it is implied that all, or nearly all, of the firearm owners who are "victims" of violent crime are good, law-abiding people. Nowhere is it mentioned how many of these firearm owners who become "victims" of violent crime are at increased risk because they are engaging in illicit activity themselves.
It is also mentioned that older people are at decreased risk for victimization. While that is most likely true, the most likely reason is that older people simply do not engage in risky lifestyles at as high a rate as younger people do. Older people are, by and large, more affluent than younger people are and thus more likely to live in wealthier and safer areas. Older people also do not frequent bars, brothels, crack houses, or other places where the risk of violent crime is increased at the same rate that younger people do. What is ignored here is that older people, by and large, are not as physically fit as younger people are and, as such, are not as well equipped to defend themselves without a weapon of some sort should someone attempt to victimize them.
Finally, the statistic about suicide and accidents is intentionally misleading. Depression, which is strongly correlated with an increased risk of suicide, is much higher in older adults than it is in young and middle aged adults. Also, failed suicide attempts are often attributable to people who do not really wish to die, but rather are desperately seeking attention. People who attempt suicide but do not succeed typically are younger and usually choose a relatively surviveable method such as attempting to overdose on medication. When an older person attempts suicide, that person is more likely to actually wish to die and thus more likely to choose a method with a higher rate of success such as shooting themself.
As to the statistic about accidents, older people are simply at higher risk for accidents of several sorts due to imairments in vision, hearing, touch sensation, and cognition. Other types of accidental death such as automobile crashes, falls, house fires, heat/cold exposure, and medication overdoses are also much higher in older adults.
The point of this article is to convice the reader that gun control is not a political issue, but one of public health. This is not a new tactic but rather one that gun control groups have tried on and off for at least two decades if not longer. The fact of the matter is that older people, like any other demographic, are not all the same and the decision as to whether or not an individual is capable of safely and responsibly owning a firearm is one that, like any number of other decisions, should be made on a case-by-case basis.
