From the
U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics website:
- The FBI's Crime in the United States estimated that 66% of the 15,517 murders in 2000 were committed with firearms
- The number of gunshot wounds from assaults treated in hospital emergency departments fell from 64,100 in 1993 to 39,400 in 1997, a 39% decline.
Compare this with the UK stats:
- Guns were used in only 4.7% of robberies in 1999 and 4.4% in 1998 so the crime problem is to a very large extent one of non-firearms crime. The UK's tight gun laws are undoubtedly responsible for the relatively rare use of guns in crime.
- Handgun homicide figures are very low and since 1980 have fluctuated from a low of 7 in 1988, through to 35 in 1993 and a previous high of 39 in1997. So 42 gun murders in 1999 does not represent a statistically significant increase.
So - guns all over the US, population
290,681,151,
10,241 gun murders. Private guns virtually banned in the UK, population
58,789,194, gun murders around
seven to forty. Now my maths may not be the best, but the US has five times the population yet two hundred and fifty-odd times more murders! That seems statistically significant to me!
Other states are different. I have sons in VA and UT where carrying a gun is considered very normal. The crime rates are highest in the states which do NOT allow citizens to carry arms, and LOWEST in states that do. This logic seems to escape many lawmakers.
From the US Bureau of Justice Statistics website:
Code:
Percentage of homicides committed with a gun
Year New Jersey Utah Virginia
1996 49.2 55.6 65.4
1997 53.8 66.2 71.2
1998 45.5 59.7 68.1
1999 52.6 61.2 67.9
2000 51.6 40.4 67.4
So is it the lawmakers who ignore the stats, or the gun nuts?