Trump

[unzippy]

Not exactly Trump, but generally more of a republican thing.

After the most recent school shooting where a ‘good guy with a gun’ shot the armed 16 year old killer, a lot of posts on threads suggesting gun controls might be a good idea are shot down, plenty of others saying they need guns because look what’s happening in Europe, etc.

So I had a look at the stats, grabbed straight from Wiki…

US gun homicide rate is 4.421 / 100,000. UK is 0.051 / 100,000, approx 87x higher. Obviously that’s crazy, but when you work it out as whole numbers,

USA 1 in 22,600

UK 1 in 1,961,000

Insane.

Biggest killer of kids (1-17yrs) in America - car crashes cancer? Nope guns.

[IanF]

I know statistics can be interpreted to prove anything, but the fact that over the last few weeks it has been safer to go to riots in France rather than to go to school in the US is a pretty good indicator of why the “good guy with a gun” doctrine is not a better solution than stricter gun control

[V8Granite]

Massachusetts has 1 gun death per 27000 with strict gun laws, have to be over 21, compulsory training etc etc

Mississippi has 1 gun death per 3570 with loose gun laws, pretty much sign your name and live at an address and it's yours.

The best is only 7.5 times less likely to be shot than the worst, which isn't as big a difference as I thought it would be.

I wonder how many shootings resulting actual death aswell, so no fisticuffs, straight to a 9mm.

Alaska is very high too where I expected it to be low as there is so much space to keep away from the general public.

1.15 guns per person in America in private ownership. Thats if you spread it over the entire population.

0.034 guns per person in the UK in private ownership. I bet a much higher percentage of them will be .22 sport rifles or shotguns with farmers etc.

So 86.7 times more gun deaths in the US compared to the UK so per gun we would need 3.03 guns per person to match the US.

So imagine every person in the UK with 3 guns at their possession.

All interesting numbers but you will never get guns out of America, you will always have honest folk giving them up and criminals keeping them now. How would you even dispose of 400,000,000 guns!!

The UK made a very good choice all those years ago.

Dave!

[duncs500]

All interesting numbers but you will never get guns out of America, you will always have honest folk giving them up and criminals keeping them now. How would you even dispose of 400,000,000 guns!!

Dave!

Isn't it the case that you'll never do it (or indeed anything) if you don't make a start?

It would probably take many decades if not centuries to get to something like what we've got, and maybe other social or technological factors will negate it by then, but at the end of the day every gun removed from public ownership is a gun that cannot be used to kill someone.

Of course I understand how deeply entrenched gun ownership is, it's unlikely there will be the political will to make a change anyone soon. If anything certain states might be able to tackle it on a state level if there's sufficient public support.

[Mito Man]

Most gun deaths are suicides. Without delving into the data it could be that Massachusetts is pretty safe in terms of homicides with a gun, but has a high suicide baseline.

[Mito Man]

Side note - America is an exponential level of crazy above the UK. Even though they have guns with which to conveniently solve problems they also have more homicides with knives per person than the UK. They even kill twice as many by fisting.

[V8Granite]

All interesting numbers but you will never get guns out of America, you will always have honest folk giving them up and criminals keeping them now. How would you even dispose of 400,000,000 guns!!

Dave!

Isn't it the case that you'll never do it (or indeed anything) if you don't make a start?

It would probably take many decades if not centuries to get to something like what we've got, and maybe other social or technological factors will negate it by then, but at the end of the day every gun removed from public ownership is a gun that cannot be used to kill someone.

Of course I understand how deeply entrenched gun ownership is, it's unlikely there will be the political will to make a change anyone soon. If anything certain states might be able to tackle it on a state level if there's sufficient public support.

100% agree, they would have to show how many criminals guns and un-registered guns are removed before people would start to think they don't need one for self defence first I think. You will still have hunters, collectors etc with them but maybe the casual untrained gun owner would give them up.

Also there is the "you can't tell me what to do" folk who wouldn't want to give it up, which I completely understand.

Dave!

[Jobbo]

They even kill twice as many by fisting.

I'm not sure if you mean punching people or the sexual act, and I'm not sure if I want to know

[V8Granite]

I mean if you are fisting them, you've won the fight by then and everyone can go home.

Dave!

[IanF]

They do have low velocity weapons (handguns mostly) that hurt but are a lot less likely to kill available in the US, and I think that could be a way forward for them… of course, they aren’t much use if you’re getting charged by a bear or similar, so there will always be a need for higher power weapons. I think the only way to reduce the numbers in the US is better education and medical care, so obviously isn’t going to happen any time soon!

[Jobbo]

I mean if you are fisting them, you've won the fight by then and everyone can go home.

Dave!

Is that what Barrymore said?

[V8Granite]

I mean if you are fisting them, you've won the fight by then and everyone can go home.

Dave!

Is that what Barrymore said?

He used the arm floaters as a depth gauge I heard.

Dave!

[Matty]

I mean if you are fisting them, you've won the fight by then and everyone can go home.

Dave!

Is that what Barrymore said?

He used the arm floaters as a depth gauge I heard.

Dave!