<The media inflates the amount of "violence" occurring in our society. As most of it
happens in urban areas, urban dwellers get a skewed picture of the society as a
whole. Finally it seems a great deal of violence is taking place, until you consider
that that last shooting was reported 172 times in the last 8 hours by the news media.>
Terrence, I would agree that the media takes violent incidents and uses them to the max to sell their product. However, this has nothing to do with the fact that the sheer proliferation of guns in America causes Americans to be killed by them at extremely high rates.
The statistic that American children are twelve times more likely to die of gunshot injuries than children in other industrialized nations is particularly shocking.
International
Comparisons
The United States has weaker firearm regulations and
higher numbers of deaths involving firearms than all
other industrialized--and even most developing--nations, according to a 1997
study by the United Nations.{10} The study surveyed 49 nations on their
firearm legislation, manufacture, and trade regulations, as well as on their
rates of firearm crime and death. The following are some comparisons
between the U.S. and other nations, found in this study and others:
The United States is one of only two countries--along with the Czech
Republic-- that does not have a firearm licensing system.{11}
Thirty-five percent of households in the United States possess at least
one firearm, over three times the average of other countries
surveyed.{12}
The United States is among only 22% of nations responding to the UN
survey that do not have regulations regarding the storage of
firearms.{13}
While the United States rarely imports illegal firearms, it is one of only
three countries who reported "frequent" instances of illegal exportation.
The total firearm death rate in the United States in 1995 was 13.7 per
100,000 people, three times the average rate among other responding
countries, and the third highest, after Brazil and Jamaica.{14}
In 1995, 1,225 people in the U.S. died from firearm accidents. This
figure is over three times higher than the average rate of other
responding countries.{15}
The U.S. had the highest firearm suicide rate of all the countries
surveyed, 7 per 100,000 people in 1995, nearly seven times greater
than the average among other responding countries.{16}
Children in the U.S. are 12 times more likely to die from firearm injury
than are children in other industrialized nations.{17}
As compared to the rest of the world, the United States has remarkably high
rates of firearm homicide, suicide, and accidental death, and comparatively
weak firearm regulations. For example, the United Kingdom recently joined
Japan and Vietnam to be among countries that ban the private ownership of
all, or nearly all, handguns.{18} Canada passed legislation in 1995 banning
short-barrelled handguns, as well as semi-automatic assault weapons. Two
other countries listed, Australia and Germany, have also banned all
semi-automatic firearms.{19} Moreover, the United States is the only country
listed below that does not require a license to own a gun.{20} In Australia and
Spain, a gun license is granted only after the applicant has completed a
required safety course.{21} The following chart shows the differences in
firearm death rates between the U.S. and countries with stronger firearm
regulation.
Furthermore, a 1988 study appearing in The New England Journal of Medicine
compares the rates of firearm violence in Seattle, Washington, and
Vancouver, Canada, and demonstrates how a ban on handguns in the United
States would decrease death. These two cities are less than three hours
apart by car and are culturally similar. However, Vancouver regulates
handguns strictly. The two cities have similar rates of burglary, robbery, and
assault, but in Seattle there is an almost five times greater risk of being
murdered with a handgun than in Vancouver.{23}
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