Someone threw some stats and comments at me in an effort to prove that while America is safer than, say, Algeria, firearms in the hands of citizens make it a very dangerous nation to live in. There are a number of you out there who have more familarity with these facts and figures. So, have a crack at these comments now.
Jeff (who never met a figure he entirely trusted after taking a college statistic course)
"Source Australian Institute of Criminology May 1996, and Killias 1993 (1994 data except Switzerland 1983-1986.)
International firearm and other homicide rates per 100,000 persons, 1994
Swiss Eng Aus Can USA
Guns 0.5 0.1 0.4 0.7 6.3
Othr 0.7 1.2 1.5 1.6 2.7
Total 1.2 1.3 1.9 2.3 9.0
As for guns being good for self-defense against serial killers and mass-murderers, and the monsters of our society, well:
Most gun deaths have nothing to do with crime. To regard firearm-related mortality as merely a crime-related problem is to dismiss 90% of gun deaths, which have nothing to do with crime. These are New Zealand figures, very close to the Australian situation:
Three-quarters of gun killings -- 76% -- are suicides. (In Australia it's 80%) Twelve percent are unintentional deaths.
Only the remaining 12% are criminal homicides.
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This from 1992-1994:
95% of the victims were killed by a familiar person 63% of all the dead were shot during family violence 30% were shot by a family member
5% were shot by their current partner
15% by an estranged partner
30% by a friend or acquaintance
7.5% were shot by a known sexual rival
7.5% were killed by a known gang rival
only 5% were killed by a stranger
As in rape and assault, "stranger danger", "home invasion" and "dark alley" encounters are extreme rarities in the real world of firearm homicide in both New Zealand and Australia. Instead, 95% of victims in this study were killed by familiar people, usually by intimates and family, 70% of them in the safest place they know - at home or at work.
Guns don't make you safe.
[This message has been edited by Jffal (edited June 15, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Jffal (edited June 15, 1999).]
Jeff (who never met a figure he entirely trusted after taking a college statistic course)
"Source Australian Institute of Criminology May 1996, and Killias 1993 (1994 data except Switzerland 1983-1986.)
International firearm and other homicide rates per 100,000 persons, 1994
Swiss Eng Aus Can USA
Guns 0.5 0.1 0.4 0.7 6.3
Othr 0.7 1.2 1.5 1.6 2.7
Total 1.2 1.3 1.9 2.3 9.0
As for guns being good for self-defense against serial killers and mass-murderers, and the monsters of our society, well:
Most gun deaths have nothing to do with crime. To regard firearm-related mortality as merely a crime-related problem is to dismiss 90% of gun deaths, which have nothing to do with crime. These are New Zealand figures, very close to the Australian situation:
Three-quarters of gun killings -- 76% -- are suicides. (In Australia it's 80%) Twelve percent are unintentional deaths.
Only the remaining 12% are criminal homicides.
---------
This from 1992-1994:
95% of the victims were killed by a familiar person 63% of all the dead were shot during family violence 30% were shot by a family member
5% were shot by their current partner
15% by an estranged partner
30% by a friend or acquaintance
7.5% were shot by a known sexual rival
7.5% were killed by a known gang rival
only 5% were killed by a stranger
As in rape and assault, "stranger danger", "home invasion" and "dark alley" encounters are extreme rarities in the real world of firearm homicide in both New Zealand and Australia. Instead, 95% of victims in this study were killed by familiar people, usually by intimates and family, 70% of them in the safest place they know - at home or at work.
Guns don't make you safe.
[This message has been edited by Jffal (edited June 15, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Jffal (edited June 15, 1999).]