Most conversations about gun control in the United States occur after a mass shooting. This isn’t particularly surprising, mass shootings are shocking and generally the news talks about shocking things. But gun violence in the US is not limited to mass shootings. On average more than 33,000 people are killed by guns per year in the US, meaning that about 93 people die every day due to gun violence. Almost every liberal in the US has endorsed so-called “sensible” gun control, but experience shows us that this is not enough; for the United States to meaningfully reduce gun violence, radical gun control must be implemented. In essence, the US must make firearms virtually unobtainable.
The countries with the lowest rates of gun violence are countries with very low rates of private gun ownership. For instance, in Japan, where most guns are banned and to obtain one that isn’t someone needs to jump through numerous hoops, there were 6 gun deaths in 2014. The United Kingdom, which has a gun ownership rate of 6.2 per person (compared to the US’s 88.8) has a gun homicide rate of .22 per 100,000, compared to 10.54 in the US. Countries with even moderately higher rates of gun ownership than the UK or Japan have dramatically higher rates of gun violence. This means that if the US wants to effectively reduce gun homicides guns must be eradicated from US society. Additionally, reduced gun violence is not made up for my increased non-gun violence, countries with reduced gun ownership rates have lower overall homicide rates than the United States.
High rates of gun ownership also contribute to suicide. Guns the most effective way to kill oneself. Because of this places with high rates of gun ownership have much higher rates of suicide. States with low rates of gun ownership have virtually the same suicide rate as states with high gun ownership rates; however, states with a high rate of gun ownership have a disproportionately high gun suicide rate. Sensible gun control measures would have little effect on the suicide rate because the guns banned by such regulations are not the guns used to commit suicide and more background checks won’t flag future mental illness. This means that to really reduce gun deaths (suicide deaths make up two-thirds of gun deaths in the US) guns have to be almost inaccessible.
Lastly, an extreme decrease in the rate of gun ownership could eliminate gun accidents, which contribute about 500 deaths a year. Contrary to the conservative opinion, having a gun in the home increases the rate of violence in that household. Gun accidents contribute to this. It is simply much easier for a gun accident to occur if a gun is present. Therefore, if guns didn’t exist in households, the gun death rate would be lower.
The United States has one of the highest homicide rates in the developed world. This is directly due to its high gun ownership rate. As the previous paragraphs proved, for gun violence to be effectively reduced radical action must be taken. Most “sensible” gun control proposals would be a band-aid over a gun shot wound. The United States must reduce its private gun ownership rate immensely to conclusively reduce its gun violence rate.
Liberal Talking Head 