Holy Crap! That’s a Lot of Guns

Filed in National by on August 28, 2007

A new study just released suggests that the US is the most heavily armed populace in the world, clocking in at 90 firearms per 100 people.  Let that sink in.

Shouldn’t our crime rate be at zero under the theory that more guns makes criminals less likely to attack (since they would be inviting certain death)?

I am reminded of one of my favorite Al Franken stories.  Phil Gramm said “I own more guns than I need, but less guns than I want.”  To which Franken thought “He and I are very different.”

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  1. anon says:

    You know what I love?

    I love whenever anyone makes the kind of observation you just made, someone will step up and say, “Why not just out law cars? They kill more people than guns!”

    I love that.

  2. jason330 says:

    We need all those guns because Osama Bin Ladin is comming here to impose sharia law and make all the women wear full Burkas.

  3. Disbelief says:

    States out west have more guns per capita than the eastern states. Yet the murder/shooting rate in, say, Wilmington, DE is several times that of, say, Montana.

    I don’t think its the amount of guns everyone has that is the problem.

  4. Bookem says:

    Good idea Jason. Just look at Washington DC for their glowing crime record in a city where guns were prohibited. No doubt about it, thats what democrats call a success.

  5. Duffy says:

    Having lived in the Deep South where guns are all but mandatory, I can tell you people are much more polite when driving than they are here.

  6. doctornick says:

    Book,

    Almost “Why not just out law cars? They kill more people than guns!”

    …but no cigar.

  7. Alan Coffey says:

    I just have to point to the Delaware Curmudgeon’s post here:
    http://delawarecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2007/08/i-dont-like-repeat-offenders-i-like.html

    Watch and learn. It ain’t just the constitution!

  8. Bookem says:

    Doc

    Proof is in the puddin. Substantiate one occasion where it has worked?

    Crickets crirp.

  9. doctornick says:

    Sharp Drop in Gun Crime Follows Tough Australian Firearm Laws

    Latest official data from Australia shows a marked reduction in gun-related crime and injury following recent restrictions on the private ownership of firearms.

    Twelve days after 35 people were shot dead by a single gunman in Tasmania, Australia’s state and federal governments agreed to enact wide-ranging new gun control laws to curb firearm-related death and injury. Between July 1996 and August 1998, the new restrictions were brought into force. Since that time, key indicators for gun-related death and crime have shown encouraging results.

    Firearm-Related Homicide

    “There was a decrease of almost 30% in the number of homicides by firearms from 1997 to 1998.”

    — Australian Crime – Facts and Figures 1999. Australian Institute of Criminology. Canberra, Oct 1999

    That’s one. You want some more?

  10. Von Cracker says:

    A gun makes it too easy to kill people.

    Your fists? Come and get me. A knife? Again, come and get me. A gun? Very different, no?

    Can we agree on that?

  11. Disbelief says:

    Bunch of crap statistics. I own guns and haven’t shot anyone in 14 years.

  12. jason330 says:

    lol

  13. mike w. says:

    Doctor Nick – A drop in “gun crime” means nothing. OVERALL crime is what matters. If gun crime drops 10% but knife crime increases 100% then overall violent crime is increasing. This is exactly what’s happening in the UK right now since they’ve banned guns. Oh, and they still have gun crime too. They banned guns, the country is an island, and they still can’t keep guns (and other weapons) out of the hands of criminals. They now have almost equally strict knife/sword laws that are just as ineffective as the gun laws.

  14. Dominique says:

    Alan –

    While I can’t disagree with everything he says, Ted Nugent is a freak and that that stupid soul patch isn’t helping. It looks like a giant white claw growing from his chin. He’s a bit of a sexist, too (big surprise). I just loved how he referred to Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein as a ‘gaggle’. What an ass.