About 20k of those are suicides, are they not? Whilst 20k isn't a number to brag about, I don't think people should be restricted on what they can buy because some other people want to end their own lives, considering a large chunk of them would find another way if they had to, although admittedly, guns offer a higher success rate.
Homicides and accidental shootings make up the rest. Accidental shootings account for around 1,000 per year. It's almost insignificant, but obviously it's better if safe storage and handling best-practice is adhered to and enforced. Saying that, when you look at accidental falls, accidental motor vehicle accidents and accidental poisoning, accidental shootings would be very hard to see on a bar graph. Keeping guns locked up and/or inoperable would stop kids getting hold of them and stop a lot of school shootings, so for this reason alone, guns should be stored in such a manner.
If there's going to be a number used in a debate, it should be the 11,000 or so gun homicides a year, "justified" or not.
There was, and still is, a debate specifically on banning "assault rifles" over handguns, which would suggest that assault rifles are some giant threat. The graph shows that rifles, which would also include traditional "fud" rifles, really aren't that significant in terms of homicides committed. Of course if you put handguns in there, they would dominate.
