Buzz
On August 26, 2015, a disturbed individual fatally shot two journalists who were broadcasting live in Virginia. This tragic event ignited a well-known debate about gun control in America. On one side were those advocating for immediate reforms, while the other side fiercely opposed any restrictions on firearms.
This is a discussion we’ve had before—once from the perspective of those supporting stricter gun laws, and once from those against them. However, this moment provides a fresh opportunity to review the undeniable facts surrounding firearms in the U.S. After cutting through the propaganda, there are some key truths about gun ownership and violence in America that cannot be ignored.
10. The United States Possesses Nearly Half of the World's Civilian Firearms
Although the US is the third most populous country in the world, it houses less than 5 percent of the global population, while China holds nearly 20 percent. However, if you examine gun statistics, you might be led to believe that the US is the largest country on Earth. Nearly half of all civilian-owned firearms worldwide are in America.
This means that the US possesses more civilian firearms than any other country on the planet, with an estimated 270 million weapons in circulation. India, holding the second-highest number, has only about a sixth of that total. The US also boasts the highest rate of gun ownership per capita, with 88.8 guns for every 100 people. That’s nearly twice the number of guns in Switzerland, the closest OECD competitor, which has 45.7 guns per 100 citizens. Yemen ranks second with 54.8 guns per 100 people. Even these numbers are astronomically high. In comparison, countries like France, Germany, and Austria have roughly 30 guns per 100 people, and England and Wales possess a remarkably small 6.2 guns per 100 citizens.
9. But Only One-Third of American Households Actually Own Firearms
Given the overwhelming presence of firearms in the country, coupled with their pervasive depiction in popular culture, it’s easy to assume that nearly everyone in America is armed, even their grandmothers. However, the statistics tell a different story. In reality, most Americans don’t own guns, and the proportion of US households with firearms is actually on the decline.
From a peak in 1977, where just over 50 percent of American households owned guns, ownership has steadily decreased to an all-time low of only 31 percent of households possessing firearms. Despite this sharp drop in household ownership, the number of guns being introduced into circulation each year has risen significantly.
In 1986, when fewer than half of households owned guns, around three million new firearms were produced annually. This figure remained relatively stable until the mid-2000s, when it surged. By 2012, the number of new guns produced each year had risen to over 12 million. Still, this doesn’t mean that the remaining gun owners are fervent enthusiasts who keep an NRA handbook next to their Bible and use machine guns for cooking breakfast.
8. Gun Owners Tend to Be Quite Rational
In August 2015, an online petition was launched to limit children’s access to automatic weapons. While this may sound like one of the countless similar petitions circulating in recent years, there is a key difference: the family behind it is made up of pro-gun conservatives.
Do you remember the nine-year-old girl who accidentally shot her instructor while attempting to fire an Uzi? The instructor’s family is now advocating for this new ban, and it’s not a typical liberal agenda. They’re calling for the same basic measures that prevent children from smoking, drinking alcohol, engaging in sexual activity, or driving. It’s a reasonable and commonsense proposal, shedding light on a largely overlooked fact: most gun owners are quite sensible.
Contrary to the “pry it from my cold, dead fingers” image, many gun owners actually support limited forms of gun control. In fact, some are even more open to new restrictions than the general public. Over 85 percent of gun owners back background checks for all gun sales, compared to 83 percent of those who don’t own guns. Most also support a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and gun bans for people with mental illnesses.
7. The NRA Holds Significant Influence Over Washington’s Gun Debate
In June 2015, President Obama gave a speech expressing frustration over the NRA’s tight “grip” on Congress. While this may sound dramatic, it’s not far from reality. The gun lobby has invested so much money into Congress that it’s almost staggering.
Between 2000 and 2013, the NRA, firearms industries, and the extremist group Gun Owners of America invested over $81 million into House, Senate, and presidential elections. This far surpasses any anti-gun spending, making comparisons almost laughable. In the first quarter of 2014, gun control organizations managed to spend only about $250,000 on lobbying in Washington. Meanwhile, the NRA alone spent over $800,000 during that same period.
This financial dominance has real-world effects. In 2013, after the horrific Sandy Hook tragedy, the Senate voted on expanding background checks. Despite widespread public support, 46 senators rejected the bill. It was later revealed that 43 of these senators had received financial backing from the gun lobby, with 38 of them getting over $15,000 each. Additionally, the NRA invested millions in supporting or opposing specific candidates in political races.
Beyond money, the gun lobby excels in manipulating political campaigns. If a senator supports gun rights, the NRA floods their opponent with relentless attack ads during election time. On the flip side, anti-gun candidates face intense harassment, often costing them close elections and making their lives miserable.
6. The United States Is the Only Country to Ease Gun Laws After Mass Shootings
Port Arthur, Aramoana, Erfurt, Hungerford . . . for many, these names are haunting reminders of violence and bloodshed. These mass shootings in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and England led each country to pass stricter gun laws. This pattern is typical of the developed world—except in one case. The US stands alone as the only advanced nation to respond to mass shootings by relaxing gun laws.
While the tragedies at Hungerford and Port Arthur led the UK and Australia to become two of the most restrictive nations in terms of gun ownership, the 1991 Texas diner massacre had the opposite effect. In this incident, a local man drove his pickup truck into a diner, exited the vehicle, and shot 22 people. Instead of imposing stricter gun regulations, Texas responded by passing concealed carry laws. Following the Sandy Hook massacre, 27 states enacted 93 laws that allowed citizens to carry firearms in places like churches and schools or use guns in self-defense, even while intoxicated.
This type of response is unparalleled. While it's true that Norway didn’t implement stricter gun control laws after the 2011 Utoya massacre, Anders Behring Breivik's actions were deemed a terrorist attack rather than a simple mass shooting, prompting the country to tighten anti-terror laws. Meanwhile, in the US, school gun deaths more than doubled from 17 in the 18 months prior to Sandy Hook to 41 in the 18 months that followed.
5. The US Leads the World in Mass Shootings
Just days before the Virginia TV shooting, US criminal justice researcher Adam Lankford revealed his study on global mass shootings, a term defined by the FBI as a spree where at least four individuals are killed, unrelated to gang violence. Lankford's research, which covered 171 countries and 292 mass killers between 1966 and 2012, concluded that mass shootings are as American as apple pie.
Over the 46 years analyzed in Lankford's study, he identified 90 mass shootings in the United States, placing the country far ahead of any other. The Philippines came in second with just 18 mass shootings during the same period. Russia, Yemen, and France followed with 15, 11, and 10 respectively, while the UK had only three. Altogether, the study revealed that nearly a third of all mass shootings globally occurred in the United States.
Some have drawn even bleaker conclusions using the same data. On Reddit's 'GunsAreCool' board, users track mass shootings based on different criteria: defining them as at least four people being shot (not necessarily killed) in a single spree, including gang violence but excluding terrorism. According to their figures, as of late August 2015, there has been more than one mass shooting every single day in the US. While you might disagree with their definition of a 'mass shooting,' it still highlights how often gun violence erupts in America.
4. US Gun Murders Are Unmatched
Some countries are notorious for gun violence, such as Honduras, El Salvador, Jamaica, and Venezuela, all of which have gun homicide rates exceeding 35 for every 100,000 people. While the US doesn't rival those shocking figures, it far outpaces other advanced nations when it comes to firearm-related murders.
With 3.2 fatal shootings per 100,000 people, the US ranks significantly worse than any other Western country. In just the first half of 2015, 6,800 Americans lost their lives to gun violence. The only nation that comes close on a per capita basis is Liechtenstein, but that's only due to its tiny population, which causes even a single murder to skew the statistics. After that, the next closest developed nation is Switzerland, with a far lower rate of 0.77 per capita. Countries like the West Bank, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo fall between these extremes.
The disparity in gun-related deaths is especially glaring when you compare the US to nations that share similar characteristics. For instance, in gun-controlled Britain, there were just 138 gun-related deaths in 2009 from a population of 64 million. In contrast, Canada, with looser gun laws, saw 173 deaths in a population of 35 million. Meanwhile, in Japan, there were only 22 firearm murders in a population of nearly 130 million in 2007, a number so high that it sparked a national scandal.
The US experiences a relatively high overall murder rate as well, not just gun-related homicides. In contrast, the absence of firearms in other countries has not led to an increase in murders using other methods.
3. US Guns Are Fueling The Mexican Drug War
The Mexican drug war ranks among the most violent conflicts on Earth. The number of civilian deaths far exceeds those in places like Ukraine, Afghanistan, and even Iraq. In 2014 alone, nearly 20,000 civilians were killed, most of them by gunshot. It is highly likely that the guns responsible for these deaths were bought in the United States.
Mexico is not a heavily armed nation. Strict laws around gun ownership mean there is only one legal gun store in the entire country, and only 15 percent of the population owns firearms, a rate lower than many European nations. Despite this, the share of murders committed with firearms in Mexico has risen dramatically from 20 percent in the 1990s to nearly 50 percent in the years following 2010. The surge of firearms smuggled in from the US is likely fueling this alarming increase in Mexico’s murder rate.
A 2013 study estimated that between 2010 and 2012, 2.2 percent of all US gun sales involved buyers from Mexico. The researchers concluded that approximately 252,000 guns cross the US-Mexico border each year, exacerbating the drug violence in Mexico. This finding is consistent with other reports indicating that up to 70 percent of the firearms used in Mexican crimes originate in America. Mexican police regularly find guns made in the US at crime scenes.
While gun advocates dismiss the connection, Mexican politicians argue that US gun policies are directly impacting the drug war in Mexico. It seems that Americans aren’t the only ones concerned about what’s crossing the border.
2. Guns Are An Overwhelmingly Male Preoccupation
It’s well known that gun dealers often appeal to notions of masculinity. For instance, Bushmaster Firearms famously ran an ad campaign promoting their guns as a way to earn “man cards.” However, the gender disparity in gun ownership is even starker than one might expect. Only 12 percent of women in the US claim to be gun owners, whereas 37 percent of men do. That’s a substantial difference. But this comparison includes people who do not own guns at all.
When we focus only on actual gun owners (and exclude those who don’t own firearms), the gender gap grows even more pronounced. On a global scale, around 96 percent of gun owners are men, meaning that only about 4 percent of all gun owners worldwide are women.
Unsurprisingly, this gender gap in ownership influences gun violence statistics. For instance, since 1966, only one woman has been involved in a mass shooting in the US, a tragedy in 2006 when the mentally disturbed Jennifer San Marco shot six postal workers.
Some argue that the machismo tied to gun culture has played a role in previous massacres. One study suggests that school shooters often deliberately target girls they believe have rejected them.
1. More Guns Means You’re More Likely To Die Horribly
There’s an undeniable truth when it comes to living in places with more guns: it significantly increases your chances of dying from a gunshot wound. Numerous studies have shown that countries with more lenient gun laws see higher rates of both murder and suicide by gunshot.
Prior to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, which led to stricter gun laws, Australia saw one mass shooting per year on average. Since the implementation of these laws, there have been no mass shootings, and both homicide and suicide rates have decreased by 50 percent.
While the media often highlights homicides, suicide is the leading cause of firearm-related deaths, far surpassing homicides, mass shootings, gang violence, and accidents. Research has shown that states with stricter gun laws experience fewer suicides by gun, and surprisingly, these states also report lower overall suicide rates. This suggests that individuals who would have used guns for suicide may have turned to other methods if firearms weren’t so accessible.
Another issue is violent crime. Researchers have long disproved the claim that more guns lead to less crime. According to the most recent research, increasing the number of firearms does little to reduce crime and may even lead to higher rates of aggravated assault. Even if you’re not convinced by this, there’s no denying that residing in a state with permissive gun laws significantly raises your risk of being murdered. This is especially true for police officers. Separate studies indicate that law enforcement officers are much more likely to be killed while on duty in states with looser gun regulations.
