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- Jul 29, 2009
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I got bored working on a spreadsheet for work (just got back from a trip and trying to get caught up) and started messing around with some crime statistics. If you aren't already bored, bear with me. If you are, just scroll to the bottom.
As we all know, the US has higher gun murder rates than France, Germany and the UK, and the Brady Bunch love to bandy that about. What I was interested in, is what is our murder rate in relation to those countries without gun murders. So I looked up our overall rate - 16,204 murders according to Nation Masters most recent data; as well as our non-firearms related murders - 6,835. Then I looked up murder rates for the countries above, as well as population data for all four countries for per capita numbers.
Now step outside your comfort zone with me and make two very, very unlikely assumptions: 1)- That if we ban all guns, and collect all of the guns we can (read: legally owned guns), all gun murders will cease as soon as we do so; and 2) the people committing the 9,500 odd gun murders would not turn to another weapon and just give up. In essence, assume that if we ban guns, we would only have 6,835 murders a year.
The point is that even with that lower number, we still have a higher murder rate than the countries the Brady Bunch always mention. It leaves us with one murder in 44,485, Germany with one in 89,869, France with 1 in 59,093 and the UK with 1 in 51,123. Note also that even though the UK has the lowest number of firearm murders of all of them (14), it has the highest overall murder-rate, aside from the US. Next time you're arguing with a gun control advocate, you might want to ask if they care about murder, or just the way people get murdered.
In conclusion, we have a much higher rate of murder than other developed, First World nations, and that number is still higher if we only count non gun murders. The US has a crime problem it needs to deal with, but this proves that gun laws do nothing to prevent murder.
As we all know, the US has higher gun murder rates than France, Germany and the UK, and the Brady Bunch love to bandy that about. What I was interested in, is what is our murder rate in relation to those countries without gun murders. So I looked up our overall rate - 16,204 murders according to Nation Masters most recent data; as well as our non-firearms related murders - 6,835. Then I looked up murder rates for the countries above, as well as population data for all four countries for per capita numbers.
Now step outside your comfort zone with me and make two very, very unlikely assumptions: 1)- That if we ban all guns, and collect all of the guns we can (read: legally owned guns), all gun murders will cease as soon as we do so; and 2) the people committing the 9,500 odd gun murders would not turn to another weapon and just give up. In essence, assume that if we ban guns, we would only have 6,835 murders a year.
The point is that even with that lower number, we still have a higher murder rate than the countries the Brady Bunch always mention. It leaves us with one murder in 44,485, Germany with one in 89,869, France with 1 in 59,093 and the UK with 1 in 51,123. Note also that even though the UK has the lowest number of firearm murders of all of them (14), it has the highest overall murder-rate, aside from the US. Next time you're arguing with a gun control advocate, you might want to ask if they care about murder, or just the way people get murdered.
In conclusion, we have a much higher rate of murder than other developed, First World nations, and that number is still higher if we only count non gun murders. The US has a crime problem it needs to deal with, but this proves that gun laws do nothing to prevent murder.