Sunday, July 29, 2007

Ban Guns And We'll Reduce Murder & Suicide! - Really?

America's 1st Freedom, an NRA publication, has published an excellent article concerning the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy study on this very subject. Respected researchers Gary Mauser and Don Kates compiled statistics for the rates of murder and gun ownership for nations stretching from the Baltic to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic to the Pacific. Liberals and the MSM continue to publish statements such as:

- A gun kept in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a family member, friend or acquaintance, than to be used to kill someone in self-defense. (as if guns can kill!)

- Americans are more likely to be shot to death than people in the world's other 35 richest nations.

- Every day in America, 13 children are killed by guns, almost a classroom of children every two days.

What's the problem with these statements? According to the Harvard study NONE OF THEM ARE TRUE! BTW, you can download your own copy free of charge here.

Many aspects of the study are interesting. For example, in Russia, where firearms had been under state control for decades, Kates and Mauser found an exceedingly violent society. Russia had then, and continues to have, by far, the highest murder rate in the developed world.

Little Luxembourg, in 2002, had a murder rate nine times higher than neighboring Germany, where firearms are legal and widely owned.

Spain has 12 times the gun ownership rate of Poland, yet Poland's suicide rate is double that of Spain. It's illegal to own a firearm in Poland.

Now, the study also states that some countries simply have a low crime rate because of societal reasons. Norway, for instance, has a very cohesive one race-based population, and it's inherent crime rate is low and yes, you can own guns there. But, the relationship between low crime and gun ownership is not a direct connection, according to Kates and Mauser, because of Norway's stable population. Countries that have massive "non-cohesive" immigration? - Well, they have problems! Sound familiar?
It's all very interesting. If you can get your hands on the article, a subscription piece, do so, because it will open the eyes of many! Too bad the MSM won't publish this data. Huh!?!

No comments: