Its Still The Wild West Shootout In the USA

[Peter Lemkin]

Americans are ten times more likely to die from firearms than citizens of other developed countries

Date: February 2, 2016

---

Guns. When compared to other high-income nations, as an American you are twenty-five times more likely to be violently killed with a gun.
Credit: © charles eberson / Fotolia



Gun deaths are a serious public health issue in the United States and the scope of the problem is often difficult to illustrate. A new study published in The American Journal of Medicine lays out the risk in concrete terms. When compared to 22 other high-income nations, Americans are ten times more likely to be killed by a gun than their counterparts in the developed world. Specifically, gun homicide rates are 25 times higher in the U.S. and, while the overall suicide rate is on par with other high-income nations, the U.S. gun suicide rate is eight times higher.
In order to help put America's relationship with guns into perspective, researchers from the University of Nevada-Reno and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed mortality data gathered by the World Health Organization in 2010. Investigators found that despite having similar rates of nonlethal crimes as other high-income countries, the U.S. has much higher rates of lethal violence, mostly driven by extremely higher rates of gun-related homicides.
The study reveals some stark truths about living and dying in the United States. When compared to other high-income nations, as an American you are:
Seven times more likely to be violently killed
Twenty-five times more likely to be violently killed with a gun
Six times more likely to be accidentally killed with a gun
Eight times more likely to commit suicide using a gun
Ten times more likely to die from a firearm death overall
Homicide is the second leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 24 years of age, and the third leading cause of death among those 25 to 34 years of age. Investigators found that for these two groups, the risk relative to their counterparts in other developed nations is alarmingly elevated. Americans 15 to 24 years of age are 49 times more likely to die from firearm homicide compared to similarly aged young people in other high-income nations. For those aged 25 to 34, the risk is 32 times higher.
"More than two-thirds of the homicides in the U.S. are firearm homicides and studies have suggested that the nongun homicide rate in the U.S. may be high because the gun homicide rate is high," explained Erin Grinshteyn, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Nevada-Reno, School of Community Health Science. "For example, offenders take into account the threat posed by their adversaries. Individuals are more likely to have lethal intent if they anticipate that their adversaries will be armed."
Suicide is another source of gun deaths. While suicide rates for the U.S. are similar to those in other high-income countries, Americans are eight times as likely to take their own lives using a gun. Dozens of studies in the U.S. indicate that less access to guns would decrease both the U.S. gun suicide rate and our overall suicide rate.
"Differences in overall suicide rates across cities, states, and regions in the United States are best explained not by differences in mental health, suicide ideation, or even suicide attempts, but by availability of firearms," explained study co-author David Hemenway, PhD, Professor, Health Policy at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center. "Many suicides are impulsive, and the urge to die fades away. Firearms are a swift and lethal method of suicide with a high case-fatality rate."
America's love affair with firearms has dire consequences, especially when compared to outcomes in the rest of the developed world. Investigators found that despite having only half the population of the other 22 high-income nations combined, the U.S. accounted for 82% of all firearm deaths. In addition, the U.S. accounted for 90% of all women, 91% of children aged 0 to 14 years, and 92% of youth aged 15 to 24 years who were killed by firearms.
"Overall, our results show that the U.S., which has the most firearms per capita in the world, suffers disproportionately from firearms compared with other high-income countries," noted Dr. Grinshteyn. "These results are consistent with the hypothesis that our firearms are killing us rather than protecting us."

---

Journal Reference:

• Erin Grinshteyn, David Hemenway. Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries, 2010. The American Journal of Medicine, 2015; DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.10.025
  

I'd only add that in Europe, where I have lived about half of my life, and in several countries, there is less crime, less of a sense of fear from all sources, as well as a much lesser chance of being shot by police or your fellow citizens. Switzerland has the highest rate of guns per household [I believe even higher than the USA], but the lowest homicide rate. Nowhere in Europe are there open carry laws nor 'stand your ground insane laws', except for hunting with a license and permit with a hunting rifle.

Even many police do not carry firearms except at special times - though that is slowing changing due to the hype of the 'war on terror' generated by the USA/Gladio false-flag apparat. What gun violence there is in Europe is often suicide, rather than homicide.

Whatever your views are on gun laws and interpretation of what the Constitution says about the 'right to bear arms', this needs examination. Americans are killing one another with firearms at alarming rates!!!!! and those rates are increasing rapidly!...especially in communities of color and poverty...which have always had to bear the greatest death rates from guns.

[Fred Steeves]

Overall, our results show that the U.S., which has the most firearms per capita in the world, suffers disproportionately from firearms compared with other high-income countries," noted Dr. Grinshteyn. "These results are consistent with the hypothesis that our firearms are killing us rather than protecting us."

Hi Peter,

The above quoted highlight sounds to me like something more in line with the views of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Were it to continue on, I can just see the old "something must be done" meme emerging yet again.

Switzerland has the highest rate of guns per household [I believe even higher than the USA], but the lowest homicide rate.

Now that's quite interesting, and not at all surprising. I wonder why we don't explore more why that is, and look for ways to mimic that, rather than the world's largest distributor of war and war weaponry over turning every stone looking for new ways to keep guns out of the hands of it's own citizenry.

Nowhere in Europe are there open carry laws nor 'stand your ground insane laws', except for hunting with a license and permit with a hunting rifle.

I see words like "insane" used all the time in reference to anything pro self defense. I lived in Florida when that bill was first introduced, and people were screaming from the mountain tops that Florida's city streets would be ever flowing with blood as a result, a full time O.K. Corral was in the works. Well, that never happened.

Before "stand your ground", the law was "duty to retreat". That meant there was *never* a justifiable reason to shoot someone coming after you with a gun, until you had retreated either all the way home, or found yourself cornered somewhere. Not very practical...

All stand your ground means is that if you are armed and in a grocery store when the crazed gunman comes in, you can do something about it besides running away and hiding while people are being murdered. Imagine how much different the Paris attacks may have gone had a few people began firing back? There's a reason why attackers tend to go to "safe" gun free zones. Safe in this instance means relative safety for the attacker, not for the people they are hunting.

Americans are killing one another with firearms at alarming rates!!!!! and those rates are increasing rapidly!... especially in communities of color and poverty...which have always had to bear the greatest death rates from guns.

This truly is where the heart of the problem lays, as I am 49 years old and have never seen a gun brandished in public. This is of course entering a briar patch that I'm not going to enter, but I think most here would agree the problems run much deeper in these areas than just that they have access to guns.

As an aside, interestingly enough the major U.S. cities with the highest gun murder rates, also tend to have the strictest zero tolerance gun laws on the books.

As much as it offends so many people, there's a reason the 2nd Amendment was placed right after the 1st Amendment. As similar as Americans are to our European counterparts, we are also still a bit of a different breed. We just are, that's how we roll. Except for certain intensely violent areas where stricter gun laws do nothing anyway, the streets are actually pretty safe here despite the created illusion that they aren't.

The world never hears about when a responsible gun owner puts down a home invasion, or stops some other violent crime in progress using their firearm. But, they sure do hear the drum beat from the other side of the story.


Anyway, there's one opinion from a typical American.

---

[Tracy Riddle]

i believe Switzerland has a citizens' militia, where every able-bodied citizen learns to fire a military-style rifle and keeps one in their home - for national defense purposes. I would favor that over the huge standing army we Americans have, but of course then we couldn't have a giant overseas empire, could we?

Personally, I think that if TPTB wanted to take our guns, they would have done it by now, instead of making firearms cheaper, lighter, and more available than ever before.