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The Effects and Consequences of Gun Control

 

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             The United States' homicide rate (5.9 deaths per 100,000 people as of 2005) is higher when compared to other countries: Sweden with 1.3, Canada with 1.5, and Australia with 1.3. To go along with these rates, America has a higher gun ownership with 39% when compared to Canada with 29.1%, Australia with 19.4% and Sweden with 15.1%. Many argue that these statistics prove the effectiveness of gun control. Fewer amounts of guns equal less crime. .
             Though the arguments seem to have good, empirical statistics, they are actually riddled with holes. Kellermann and Reay's 43-1 Statistic is nowhere near exhaustive and made significant assumptions that should not have been made. For one, the statistic recorded the crimes with deaths while having no way to account for the number of crimes prevented because of the use of firearms (Heumer 10). Many crimes are stifled and prevented when the victim pulls out a gun. The sheer thought of being shot stops many crimes. This, in-turn, also skews their results for self-defense. They needed to account for the numerous crimes prevented from the use of firearms through self-defense, which would greatly impact the ratio. The shortcomings of the 43-1 Statistic do not end there; thirty seven of the forty three deaths used in the ratio were from suicides. The inclusion of suicides in this statistic implies that the removable of guns would have prevented 100% of these unfortunate deaths. If one is determined to die, and guns are removed from the picture, there are numerous other ways to end one's life. .
             Even the international comparisons of homicide and gun ownership rates for the gun control arguments are not as strong as they seem to be. For one, the United States has numerous factors that play into its homicide rate that, to some, make these apparent connections void. A prominent one is other countries has the same laws for the entire nation while the United States has fifty different states with different laws concerning guns.


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