Disarming the Population: the Real Facts about Guns in the U.S

by Mark Angelides

As a Brit, it has often baffled me as to the direction that gun control is heading in the U.S. Britain and many other nations have firsthand experience of what  happens when stringent gun control laws are brought in: Gun murders rise sharply.
If you want the full statistics with tables, check out the report by the Crime Prevention Research Center, here. Here are some key findings:

• UK gun ban introduced: Homicide rate increased dramatically.
• Ireland gun ban introduced: Homicide rate increased dramatically.
• Jamaica gun ban introduced: Homicide rate increased dramatically.

Can you see a pattern?
You can see that immediately after gun bans are imposed, there is always a large increase in murders/homicides. With the basic facts freely available, why are politicians still pushing for more and more measures against legal gun ownership?
Let’s look at some more stats about guns:

• Mass shooters don’t follow the laws. Most guns used in crimes are illegally obtained. Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook), stole guns. Less than 0.7% of felons obtain their guns through legal channels.
• Washington, D.C.’s gun ban worsened the city’s homicide rate. (Although it is possible that the increased homicide rate is attributable to other causes, when we look for common factors in other countries, the gun ban seems to be the most probable cause).
• The Crime Research Prevention Center determined that since 1950, nearly 99 % of mass public shootings have occurred in gun-free zones.
• As the number of gun ownerships has increased, gun crime has actually decreased.
• There was a range of 500,000 to over 3 million defensive gun uses in 2013,if people had not had access to firearms, it could be suggested that these people would face assault, sexual assault or even murder as a consequence.

The case for making it harder to get guns seems almost non-existent. Why then is it still at the forefront of debate at every election? Some possible reasons may include:

• It is an emotive issue. “Think of the Children!!!”
• It creates clear lines of division between two cardboard cutout candidates.
• It’s part of a longer term strategy to disarm U.S citizens entirely so they will be unable to defend against the Federal government takeover.

Yes, I know the last point is a little far-fetched, but when you consider that the processes in place today to limit gun ownership are LITERALLY causing deaths of U.S citizens, it’s hard not to at least consider it. Taking away legally owned guns irrefutably leads to a rise in deaths from illegally owned guns. It’s hard to fathom the reasoning behind the incessant anti-gun rhetoric.
 
As a footnote: The gun ban in the U.K is so strict, that the British Olympic Pistol team has to go to France to practice.