The Philippines, guns, and homicide rate...

[center442]

I just came across this article regarding the recent shooting in the Philippines. Interesting read, particularly about comparing gun ownership and homicide rates, the Philippines vs the United States.

Cliff's notes version:

While the United States has the highest per-person percentage of gun ownership in the world, according to Reuters, the Philippines has a much lower gun-ownership ratio. There are a mere 4.7 guns for every 100 Filipinos and there are 3.9 million privately licensed firearms in the Philippines. In the United States, there are 88.8 guns per 100 people and 270 million in the country, reports GunPolicy.org, a web site hosted by the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney.

Despite those numbers, the Philippines has a much higher gun-related homicide rate than the United States.

According to the most recently available data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there were 8.9 homicides per 100,000 people in the Pacific island archipelago in 2003, while in the United States there were 3.3 homicides per 100,000 people.

I'm constantly hearing how the lack of guns in some countries means that there's less 'gun violence.' Apparently the Filipinos didn't get the memo.

Thought it might provide some ammo for those who find themselves debating with anti's.

 

[fdkrol]

11Q

 

[Joos]

Less "gun violence" not less violence. If the media keeps repeating it over and over it becomes everyday vocabulary.