More guns = More gun related deaths?
I have been trying to wade trough the muddy water on gun control. However using the statistics in the news, and on websites it is almost impossible to get anywhere near a true statistical analyses. Why? Well because both sides of this argument feel very strongly about their opinion on the topic. I feel that most of the reports on gun crime statistics will always be presented in a light that promotes ones beliefs on the issue. You see the gun rights advocates will tout without guns in the hands of a free people its only a matter of time before someone with a gun puts you in bondage. And then you have the gun control advocate that touts because of guns in the hands of people innocents are dying in the streets. For my friends in other parts of the world I will explain a bit about America's love of guns and how it came about, before trying to answer the above question about gun related deaths.
Guns and gun ownership is a very hot topic in the united states right now. Why? Well because of mass shootings and the death of innocent children at schools for one. So the sane thing is to get rid of all the guns to stop the deaths correct? Maybe, but maybe not lets take a look at why America has so many guns in the first place. America was founded in and received its freedom in battle and bloodshed using, You guessed it Guns. The founding fathers of the US wrote into the constitution a thing called the second amendment."A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Why would someone write such a thing in a Constitution of rights? well lets look at the reason. you see when the colonists began to rise up against British rule they were denied the rights to carry a firearm. So the founding fathers of America recognized through the success of the revolution the benefits of armed citizenry in dispelling a tyrannical government. That's why it was written into the American constitution. I'm not going to debate the 2nd amendments usefulness in today's world. I'm just explaining why it exist to others who may not understand why it came about.
Now back to my question. Does more guns in a county = More gun related Deaths? Like I stated already its hard to find any statistical data that isn't bent one way or the other. Lets look at some charts from a quick Google search for "gun statistics" and you will understand why I say its confusing.
This first chart is clearly stating the gun homicide rate per 100K people in the US is higher than other countries. So if a person just takes this information as it is presented they will walk away saying yes the US needs to get rid of guns
But then here comes this chart that's saying other countries have higher gun homicide rates than the US per 100K people. Wait what? but didn't we just learn the opposite thing? see what I mean about it being confusing?
Lets do our own research and see what we come up with below.
Lets not depend on someone to be unbiased and show the numbers in a light that is fair to the topic. Lets start here Wikipedia page for a list of countries by firearm-related death rate.
As expected on this chart the US has more guns per 100 inhabitants than any other country by a great majority. Coming in 1st place at 101.05 guns per 100 inhabitants. So that's more guns than the number of people in the country. Its true America loves its guns, But lets try to objectively answer the question of does more guns = more deaths by gun.
A strange thing happens when you sort this data by "firearm related deaths per gun per year". America who is the clear winner of number of guns per populous is now 45th in firearm related deaths relevant to number of guns. Whats this statistic telling us? Well its not saying that America has a lower rate of gun crime. Its just showing that America has a much lower rate of gun crime "PER GUN". So we could stop here we have just answered our question does MORE GUNS = more gun crime. Because if the answer was yes the US would be number one on both charts but lets not stop here lets keep digging
Lets look in depth at America and the real numbers reported by the CDC on (all) firearm deaths.
Because lets face it if a gun isn't present you cant have a gun related death even if the person pulling the trigger is the victim? That's how the gun control advocate thinks and portrays their numbers most of the time.
Firearm—In 2014, 33,594 persons died from firearm injuries in
the United States (Tables 18 and 19), accounting for 16.8% of all injury
deaths in that year. The age-adjusted death rate from firearm injuries
(all intents) did not change significantly in 2014 from 2013. The two
major component causes of firearm injury deaths in 2014 were suicide
(63.7%) and homicide (32.8%). The age-adjusted death rate for
firearm homicide decreased 2.8%, from 3.6 in 2013 to 3.5 in 2014. The
rate for firearm suicide did not change.
This quote from the report from the CDC states that 63.7% gun deaths in the US are suicide and 32.8% are homicide. lets not argue over justified homicide or any of that jazz because it just seems to more complicate things.. I have to admit though it would be good to remove the suicide numbers. Because a suicidal person is likely to use another means to kill their-self if a gun isn't present. I feel for us to get a true comparison it would be better. However We will use the number of both for this exercise. Lets look at the number of People in the US total. according to this site in 2014 the same year as the CDC report the US had 319 Million people. So if we take 317,000,000 and divide it by 33,594 that gives us. One gun death for each 9,436 people or 0.00010598 in the US remember that's ALL gun related deaths including suicides. I'm not going to pick a country like South Africa or Honduras to compare their gun violence to US for the simple reason the numbers are SO far askew. I know I'm sure to hear But But But the UK.. So, lets look at the population of the UK in 2014 it was 64 million the total gun deaths along with Suicides for the UK is 6,291 so if we divide 64,000,000 by 6,291 that gives us one death for each 10,173 people or 0.0000983 SO that proves it the UK is safer than the US because it has less guns and gun related crime! so the US should ban guns. Well not so fast...
Lets take a closer look at violent crime as a whole not just Gun crime. But remember all Gun crime is considered violent. So with that being the case America has to be at the top again.. Because it not only has all the gun crime to deal with but it also has all its violent crimes committed without a gun to deal with right?
How is it this map shows death rates per 100K people to violence is higher in other countries in the world if America has more guns than those countries? I know your screaming at this point whats the point your trying to make here. Well its to make you do your own research and make up your own mind. Don't rely on others to give you the facts in a way that inst biased to their beliefs. NOT EVEN ME!
I am about to inject my beliefs at this point in the blog. So if you don't want to read my rant you may want to just skip the rest. You see I believe Guns are nothing more than a tool. The tool has nothing to do with ones heart or will to do bad things. We have a problem all over the world today, but that problem is not Guns. Its lack of compassion and love for one another. Its hate and Greed those things are our problems, not the tools that are used to do bad things.. I believe the right to own a gun is God given not man given. So for anyone to try to regulate or take from me what God gave me the right to own has a problem. The problem is the fact I and a lot like me will never give up our Guns. My Guns are tools that I use to protect my freedom and my family from anyone who would do us harm. I will never give them away, nor will I ever ask that someone else give up theirs.
Do I believe America would be a safer place without Guns? Sure I do, but we are so far past that day it has come and gone long long ago. When the boats landed and the first white man stepped on to American soil he had a gun. Guns are everywhere in America. No matter what law is passed they will never all just go away. The dream of an America without guns is a fairy tale. So I'll just keep mine.. Buzzard out!
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*Luke 22:36 NIV
He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.*****
More links on the Subject.
A site that has FACTS about how Americans use their guns.
WOULD BANNING FIREARMS REDUCE MURDER AND SUICIDE?
World Murder Map!
World health cause of death
images in this post all come from Google search