Probably. And gun nuts would be shocked at how many there were. There are about 66,000 gun deaths in the US every 24 months, most of them of innocent people; there are 41,000 zip codes in the US. Indeed, for every use of a gun to stop a criminal there are 34 homicides, 78 suicides and 2 accidental deaths. That would be a lot of billboards.
Suicide is not an accidental death nor does it fall under innocent. I understand why gun control advocates want it included in gun death statistics alongside murder but I disagree in that application.
Comparing use of a gun to stop a criminal vs criminal homicide is an apples/oranges comparison. How many of those 34 homicides were commented against someone who was carrying a gun? How many of those using a gun to commit homicide were already breaking the law just being in possession of the gun ?
(I take that back. The gun nuts would see the signs and say "liberal lies by Obama who wants to grab our guns!" ignore them and go their merry way.)
Nice how you take my 'gun banning advocates' (of which Fraggle unabashedly qualifies for) and respond with 'gun nuts'.
But your partly right. All those empty billboards would reinforce that position. In my zip-code, I honestly cannot think of one murder via gun. Several suicides, cant think of one accidental death, and I've lived in this zip-code for 45 years.
Just did a quick search on the nearest city with a pop > 10K (and one zip code) and no murders come up. I think there probably has been, but it hasnt been recently.
Now back to the Billboard by zipcode. There are 1,031 zip codes in MN. 380 in Hennepin county (minneapolis pop 1.3 million).
In 2012 there were 120 homicides reported for the state. Of that number, 19 offenses were ruled negligent leaving a murder and non-negligent homicide total of 101 which is reflected in Table 10.
How many were by gun? 38
How many by knife/cutting instrument? 24
Hands/feet/fists? 12
asphyxiation: 2 - just wanted to clarify it wasnt same as above.
So without finishing the cause of deaths in MN 2012 we have a tie. 38 by guns, 38 by other. Its still murder.
Point being the billboard idea by zip-code will not represent what the OP intended.
Minnesota has averaged 4.6 accidental deaths a year from guns since 2000. On average, guns kill one person a day in Minnesota.
http://www.minnpost.com/politics-po...aths-one-minnesotan-killed-every-day-firearms
That's the bad news. The good news is that Minnesota is _relatively_ safe; 30 other states have higher rates of gun deaths than Minnesota does.
EDIT addition: An average over 13 years is not the same as Billboards for the last 24 months. And again I refer you to the by zip code. 1000+ zipcodes, 300+ in one county. Thats a LOT of empty billboards.
/edit
Here we go again. Lumping suicide in with murder (referring to article).
Every day, approximately one Minnesotan dies and another is injured from a firearm. Firearms
are the second leading cause of traumatic brain injury death in Minnesota.
Nearly three-fourths
of firearm-related deaths are suicides, however, rather than assaults or unintentional injuries on
another person.
http://www.health.state.mn.us/healthymnpartnership/sha/docs/1205healthofminnesotasupp.pdf
NOTE that Not all suicides are by gun, though a majority are. Approx 47% of women choose poison/od for suicide method.
https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/bca/bca-divisions/mnjis/Documents/2012 Crime Book.pdf
The NRA actually prohibits the CDC from collecting accurate data on gun deaths. The above data came from the Minnesota Department of Health which the NRA has not been able to muzzle. Some states keep fairly good records; some don't.
Congress sets CDC budget. NRA lobby efforts on behalf of their members is no different than AARP lobbying for their members or ASPCA lobbying for their members, etc. We get to do that in America.