When It Comes to Guns, We're No. 1

[forrestkc]

Our historical revisionist is hard at work again.

Other than background checks and the assault weapons ban, what have they tried to do?

[KeilanS]

Going by this site, I am sure glad I live in a country with gun control. Do you realize that the US has 27 times as many murders with firearms as the UK? And over 5 times as many as in Canada?

Well geee, ya think!?? The US has 27 times the population that GB has, and 10 times the population that Canada has. that skews the facts drastically.

Now, just to make sure I don't come across as skewing facts, you do have 3 times the overall murder rate of both the UK and Canada, so you have to divide those numbers by 3 to get an accurate number of how many more firearm related murders you have. Although that still means you have 9 times as many as the UK and almost 2 times as many as Canada. Another thing that should be noted is this isn't necessarily just gun control. Maybe the US just has a violence problem, rather than a gun problem.

No we don't have a violence problem. we just have 300+million people is all. how many people does GB have??

Eliyahuw, I'm fine with the fact that you misread my statistics, statistics are tricky things, but could you try not to insult me while being wrong? Those gun statistics are per capita. That means they are taking into account the population difference. I will make this clear.

The US has 27 times the the murders with firearms PER PERSON than the UK. Either the US has a gun problem, or the US has a violence problem. Take your pick.

Also, just for your information, the US does not have 27 times the population of Great Britain. The US has roughly 5 times the population of Great Britain.

[Giaour]

America is full of thugs and criminals and America is evil.

But who do you think the World calls when they need help defending their sorry butts?

[KeilanS]

America is full of thugs and criminals and America is evil.

But who do you think the World calls when they need help defending their sorry butts?

Well, I admit there's probably some truth to that. But it's really not related to gun control or how many of your civilians carry weapons, we want help from the American military because it is well trained and well equipped, not from the armed civilians.

[Fiosh]

Going by this site, I am sure glad I live in a country with gun control. Do you realize that the US has 27 times as many murders with firearms as the UK? And over 5 times as many as in Canada?

Well geee, ya think!?? The US has 27 times the population that GB has, and 10 times the population that Canada has. that skews the facts drastically.

Now, just to make sure I don't come across as skewing facts, you do have 3 times the overall murder rate of both the UK and Canada, so you have to divide those numbers by 3 to get an accurate number of how many more firearm related murders you have. Although that still means you have 9 times as many as the UK and almost 2 times as many as Canada. Another thing that should be noted is this isn't necessarily just gun control. Maybe the US just has a violence problem, rather than a gun problem.

No we don't have a violence problem. we just have 300+million people is all. how many people does GB have??

Eliyahuw, I'm fine with the fact that you misread my statistics, statistics are tricky things, but could you try not to insult me while being wrong? Those gun statistics are per capita. That means they are taking into account the population difference. I will make this clear.

The US has 27 times the the murders with firearms PER PERSON than the UK. Either the US has a gun problem, or the US has a violence problem. Take your pick.

Also, just for your information, the US does not have 27 times the population of Great Britain. The US has roughly 5 times the population of Great Britain.

The problem is that gun control laws do very little to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

So what's the point?

[KeilanS]

The problem is that gun control laws do very little to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

So what's the point?

The point is that the statistics do not support your statement. Why is it that there are more murders with firearms in the US than Canada if in the US, all the law-abiding citizens with guns prevent criminals from using them while in Canada we are all unarmed?

[Fiosh]

The problem is that gun control laws do very little to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

So what's the point?

The point is that the statistics do not support your statement. Why is it that there are more murders with firearms in the US than Canada if in the US, all the law-abiding citizens with guns prevent criminals from using them while in Canada we are all unarmed?

Maybe because there was already a statistical difference BEFORE the gun laws were enacted.

Think scientific method. You cannot assume cause & effect. The crime rate may be totally unrelated to the gun laws. There may be another factor(s) influencing the stats...population density for example. The more rats you put in the cage the more violent they become.

" Canada: After enacting stringent gun control laws in 1991 and 1995, Canada has not made its citizens any safer. "The contrast between the criminal violence rates in the United States and in Canada is dramatic," says Canadian criminologist Gary Mauser in 2003. "Over the past decade, the rate of violent crime in Canada has increased while in the United States the violent crime rate has plummeted."

Gary A. Mauser, "The Failed Experiment: Gun Control and Public Safety in Canada, Australia, England and Wales," Public Policy Sources (The Fraser Institute, November 2003), no. 71:4

[KeilanS]

Well you might be on to something there. Although probably not in terms of population density. Canada's population is concentrated along the border, so although we have a huge land mass, our population isn't spread out. Although it would be interesting to find out exactly what the reason is for the higher murder rate in the US. I'd also like to know where you heard the rate of violent crimes in Canada was increasing. I have heard it is remaining stable.

[Fiosh]

High Gun

Ownership Countries

Country Suicide Homicide Total*

Switzerland 21.4 2.7 24.1

U.S. 11.6 7.4 19.0

Israel 6.5 1.4 7.9

********************************************

Low Gun

Ownership Countries

Country Suicide Homicide Total*

Denmark 22.3 4.9 27.2

France 20.8 1.1 21.9

Japan** 16.7 0.6 17.3

* The figures listed in the table are the rates per 100,000 people.

** Suicide figures for Japan also include many homicides.

Source for table: U.S. figures for 1996 are taken from the Statistical Abstract of the U.S. and FBI Uniform Crime Reports. The rest of the table is taken from the UN 1996 Demographic Yearbook (1998),

What if when Hitler was in power all the Jews in Germany and Poland had been armed????

[Fiosh]

Well you might be on to something there. Although probably not in terms of population density. Canada's population is concentrated along the border, so although we have a huge land mass, our population isn't spread out. Although it would be interesting to find out exactly what the reason is for the higher murder rate in the US. I'd also like to know where you heard the rate of violent crimes in Canada was increasing. I have heard it is remaining stable.

Try "Statistics Canada"