A Few Facts about Guns
Many commentators appear to be ignorant of the existing literature on guns, homicide, suicide, violent crime, and self-defense. A recent non-technical summary of the subject can be found in an amicus brief for the Heller case. It includes a complete set of references as well as data on firearms ownership, defensive use, and fatalities.
Facile comparisons between the U.S. murder rate and the lower murder rate in countries with gun control often conclude that gun control lowers murders. But bans in European countries were enacted to curb terrorism and political violence, not crime. Those who attribute lower European murder rates to gun bans generally fail to explain that U.S. murder rates were higher before any gun bans were enacted. They also fail to explain why the US has had higher rates of knife crimes, stranglings, and of victims being kicked to death.
Commentators also ignore the large gains from widespread firearms possession. Estimates of defensive gun use in the United States range from 0.25 to 2.5 million uses a year. An estimated 76 percent of defensive uses take the form of brandishing the weapon to scare attackers away. The vast difference in instances of defensive gun use in the U.S. and England has been cited as a reason why violent crime rates in the U.S. are far lower than those in England. Seminal work on this was done by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, and by James D. Wright and Peter Rossi.
A 1990 article by Don B. Kates, Jr. covers important issues in making international comparisons, as well as statistics on the defensive use of guns, and their use in both intentional and unintentional killings.
The following phrase in the post confuses me: “…U.S. murder rates were higher before any gun bans were enacted.”
Isn’t that saying that banning guns lowers murder rates? Is that what you meant to say (the rest of the post seems to have the opposite flavor)?
Good post Linda.
I read an article on Marginal Revolution about how Japan has gun control that’s so strict that people have to periodically get medical evaluations just to register a hunting rifle. If someone gets too old, they get their rifle taken away.
Bret,
Apologies for the confusion. The point is that before there were any gun bans, even in the countries that currently have them, US homicide rates were higher. There’s a literature on why, but it is pretty clear that the presence or absence of gun bans has little to do with it.
“They also fail to explain why the US has had higher rates of knife crimes, stranglings, and of victims being kicked to death.”
Easy. They didnt have a gun at the moment.
Steve
Are we just discussing handguns for personal protection?
Ah yes, so we should be sure to ban knives, string, and feet as well.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/18/fox-news-poll-twice-as-many-favor-more-guns-over-banning-guns-to-reduce-violent/
This link shows to the popularity of owning guns, as well as the opposition against gun control laws.
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