on this one i'm not seeing the gun ownership %age
I'm trying to have a look at getting a good graph together, but on my limited version of excel I'm not about to label the scatter points properly.
Unfortunately the GunCite table also mixes years for the different countries statistics, so its not the best source. However, the general thrust is still interesting: while the USA has both the highest gun ownership and gun homicide rates, the next 6 down the list by ownership (in descending order: Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Finland, France and New Zealand) all have over 20% gun ownership and less that 1 gun homicide per 100,000 population, with no particular relationship between the two datasets.
Its worth noting that this is not an exhaustive list, many violent countries do not have statistics available on gun ownership, but perhaps that's to the good as it means we are comparing countries with governments stable enough to collect such data.
(, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 12:03, Reply)
no I mentioned that list
because it has total gun deaths broken down into homicides, suicides and accidents.
I was surprised to see N.I. higher than the U.S. because I was sure it was the opposite, but it's because the total gun deaths is higher in the U.S.
Also curious is the suicide rate in Switzerland... I wonder if gun ownership correlates to suicide by shooting. Not that I'm saying gun ownership causes suicides, but I guess if you've got one it seems like an obvious way to do it.
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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 12:09,
Reply)
well that is the interesting point isn't it? its not that you need a gun to kill someone or yourself
the South Africa statistic is intersting, in that it has a very high total homicide rate, 2/3rds of which are non-firearm.
Were I of the homicidal inclination, I'd have a wealth of creative options: bare hands, a kicking on the floor, kitchen knife, rock/brick/pool ball in a sock, garden tools, heavy household ornaments, the whole content of my tool box (except perhaps the tape measure), rat poison, and several plants growing in my garden including deadly nightshade, hemlock and in a few weeks the classic fly agaric mushroom.
Personally I'm of the opinion that prohibition is a sticking plaster measure at the best of times, we have to look to the cause of murder, not the tool used. Why are people angry enough to kill?
(, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 12:21, Reply)
absolutely,
often it's just a PR exercise so that the politicians can be seen to be doing something. After Dunblane, for instance, who got penalised? Legitimate gun sports clubs. They didn't do anything whatsoever to address the actual cause of the incident.
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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 20 Jul 2012, 12:26,
Reply)