Gun control is the big discussion once again. It’s easy to get caught up in the media narrative and feel that America is falling apart. When you calm down and look at the numbers, you can see that there isn’t a gun-crime epidemic, and the country continues to grow safer every year.
One of the leading arguments for more gun control compares the U.S. to European countries. So, that is exactly what we’re going to do, and the liberals and the leftist run media won’t like the truth.
US Statistics
While you constantly hear the U.S. has an inordinately high gun-death rate, you rarely hear more about that breakdown. You may have heard that two-thirds of gun deaths in the U.S. are suicide, but there’s still so much more to the story. The big thing to remember is that the U.S. is diverse. When you break gun deaths down by state, you find that the lowest rate is Hawaii at 2.71 deaths per 100,000 residents. The highest is Alaska at 19.59. That’s a huge disparity.
What’s more important is that these numbers are still simplistic. Comparing different states with these rates assumes that every state sees gun crimes rise one to one with population. That isn’t true anywhere in the country. You can use historical data to fix these comparisons. When you do, you find that Alaska’s corrected rate is well below 3.0, and this still includes suicides (which are abnormally high in the state). This isn’t surprising when you see that Alaska’s biggest murder year in history saw 16 total murders.
Even Hawaii’s comparative gun death rate drops when you use this correction. The simple reason is that gun deaths have been in historic decline in the U.S. for over 20 years, even as the population has grown in every state.
EU Statistics
Comparing all of Europe is difficult, since every country has different methodologies and many don’t record good stats. Within the European Union, you can get slightly better figures, and that’s what we’ll compare today. The population of the entire EU is a little bigger than that of the U.S., and the disparity of countries looks a lot like those of U.S. states, so this comparison makes a lot of sense.
The average gun-death rate across the EU is roughly 3 per 100,000. The high is 17.2 (comparable to Alaska) and the low is in the UK at 0.2. Before we dive deeper into these statistics, it’s important to remember that gun control laws across Europe are much stricter than those in the U.S.
Looking at the UK, it seems that gun control is the obvious answer. When we dig deeper, we find that the UK is comparable to Hawaii in its actual comparative gun-crime rates. Here’s the important fact: since the major gun ban in 1996, gun crime has risen in the UK. In fact, gun crime has risen at a rate faster than population growth. This is true for most of Europe and untrue for every state here in America. When we factor these historical figures into the equation, we find that the UK’s corrected gun-death rate is 1.61. Remember: this is the lowest in the entire EU. Correction factors across the board show us that for the entire region, gun-death rates are around 11 per 100,000. That’s noticeably higher than the U.S. figure.
Suicide
Here’s where things really get interesting. If you recall, two-thirds of U.S. gun deaths are suicides. In the EU, that number is wildly different. Far-north countries see much higher suicide rates (like Alaska) than the rest. Still, when you average the entire region, you find that suicide accounts for about one-third of EU firearm deaths.
Why does this matter? It tells us that the EU is substantially more dangerous than the U.S. in terms of outright homicide, despite their strict gun control. Domestically, guns are mostly only a danger to people with suicidal tendencies. Abroad, they’re a greater threat to people who aren’t carrying a weapon.
All of this ties back to the current narrative in the U.S. Empirically, gun control has never proven to save lives. More often than not, it has led to increases in crimes and homicides.
In fact, when you use proper statistical methods, you find that the U.S. is objectively safer than the bulk of Europe. Most importantly, we find that gun deaths are more of a mental health issue than anyone is willing to admit.
When tens of thousands of Americans take their own lives every year, we do in fact have an epidemic, and it needs more attention than a homicide problem that shrinks on its own every year.
~ American Gun News
Gobbledegook
Gums don’t kill people. People kill people. Navy vet here commenting We have the 2nd amendment these democrats better get on board. NRA member and no laws will ever take my guns away self defense and protection The liberal media is clueless Our military should have the best weapons and that’s a fact.
Thank you for your service, Christine. It is greatly appreciated, beyond what words can express. NRA member here, also.
I am an honorably discharged Disabled Veteran and I am so tired of hearing, “We need gun control” or that “Europe is safer than the US”. If this were so, then why is it that we have less terrorist attacks than the European countries and why is our crime lower than theirs? Guns DO NOT KILL PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE> Guns are inanimate objects and if I were to put a loaded gun on a table in a crowded room and no one touched it, nothing would happen. Guns are just a tool just as a hammer is a weapon. If these people preach gun control because of the deaths, then we had better ban Alcohol and automobiles because of drunk driving, all snacks and fast food and soda pop and other related items because of the deaths caused by obesity. Banning guns is so narrow-minded and the people who want to accomplish this just have a personal vendetta and/or agenda to ban guns.
Our right to bear arms won this country, I served in order to protect the Constitution of the United States of America, and No one is going to tell me whether I can carry a weapon (gun)! My disability is a direct result of my service, but I would do it all over again, in fact, I would serve now, if allowed. Unfortunately, I cannot serve my final 9 years or more to retire because I would not pass a physical because of my injuries sustained on Active duty in the U.S. Army. Again, I cannot stress how much I desire to serve but since I cannot, I can at least make my opinion heard as well as try to shake these narrow-minded people into seeing common sense. Even if you took guns out of the possession of law-abiding citizens then you are putting their lives at risk because criminals will still get their hands on guns. Cocaine, Heroin, Methamphetamine and other drugs are illegal and criminals still acquire them, same thing different items.
I will die before anyone takes my right to bear arms away from me. I am disabled and gave 11 years of my life to protecting the rights of all Americans, who can legally obtain and carry a weapon, as well as my wife’s and my own right. The answer is not banning, rather more thorough background checks to include mental health and better security and training along with drills in schools and other vulnerable areas just as our airports, are.
Excellent points ably expressed.
SFC Michael Lee Pemberton
US Army (ret), Armor
P.S. – Thank you for serving and for your sacrifices.
Nra all the way.boycott buisness that boycott nra.
Veteran Marc Hoflin is spot on correct. The only meaningful comparative data must measure non defensive deliberate deaths and suicide should be tabulated separately. Perhaps the most significant stat of all is the number of lives actually saved by weapons or tools of any kind. America would be so superior to any other nation people everywhere would be demanding a 2nd Amendment of their own. This, in turn, would terrify corrupt governments everywhere that fear the wrath of a free people.
Thank you for your service, Marc. It is greatly appreciated, beyond what words can ever express.
Some people will never understand that a God-given right cannot be taken away by a Government unless “we the people” allow it to happen. And they fail to look into the future far enough to see what would very likely happen if we allow it to happen.
The Socialist believers trying to overrun our great Country would love to disarm the citizens. Without the protection afforded by our 2nd amendment, the rest our constitution and all of its amendments could easily be trampled. Without armed citizens, it would take very little effort for a dictator to take over and become “president for life”. And this dictator would not necessarily have to come from outside our borders
Thank you again for your dedication to our Country and our constitution.
It’s too bad that such an interesting article has no references as to the source of the statistics quoted. It would be nice to be able to verify the information and develop more analysis based on the information.
Without the ability to peruse the background data, I still believe that the information is accurate. Some of the analysis about “adjusted” data is confusing and not supported. I little more explanation would be appreciated.