I quite agree with your sentiment, Austin, that it is hard to make the statistics meaningful. I also agree that my musing about 50/50 was confusing. What I was trying to say was that (assuming they are mutually exclusive categories) firearms are relatively efficient in creating fatalities. So, put another way, in approximately half of the reported incidents (knowing that there are a hell of a lot of unreported ones), a firearm succeeds in killing the victim, rather than just injuring them. Or, that if one is shot by a firearm, the chance of surviving is approximately 50/50.

There is, of course, a specific reason why it is so difficult to get fidelity from these particular statistics, and that is the routine practice of Congress in prohibiting public access to firearm-related information. On behalf of the firearm manufacturers, Congressional lackeys insert riders prohibiting research on gun violence. (How the Government Stifled Gun Research; Silencing the Science on Gun Research)

From the latter article:
Quote
Injury prevention research can have real and lasting effects. Over the last 20 years, the number of Americans dying in motor vehicle crashes has decreased by 31%.1 Deaths from fires and drowning have been reduced even more, by 38% and 52%, respectively.1 This progress was achieved without banning automobiles, swimming pools, or matches. Instead, it came from translating research findings into effective interventions.

Given the chance, could researchers achieve similar progress with firearm violence? It will not be possible to find out unless Congress rescinds its moratorium on firearm injury prevention research. Since Congress took this action in 1997, at least 427 000 people have died of gunshot wounds in the United States, including more than 165 000 who were victims of homicide.1 To put these numbers in context, during the same time period, 4586 Americans lost their lives in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.10

A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich