Do Guns Kill People?

Crime in America has spun out of control. Violent crime rose 3.7 percent nationwide in 2006, and this pales in comparison to what we have seen so far in 2007. According to the justice department offenders are becoming younger, bolder and increasingly violent. Turf wars between rival gangs have taken control of Los Angeles neighborhoods, New Orleans has become reminiscent of the Wild West with its combination of survivalism and opportunism, and we won’t soon forget the tragedy at Virginia Tech that shocked the nation.

I foresee gun control being a major issue in any upcoming elections. Gun lobbyists from both sides of the aisle make major political contributions, demanding to be heard. Politicians have exploited citizens’ fears to win votes, but they have been focusing on the wrong source of fear. To be blunt I’m much more concerned about being robbed and shot in a dark alley than I am about being blown up on a bus by a terrorist. It is essential to the survival of the country that violent crime is reined in.

Among gun control lobbyists there are divergent methods of accomplishing this goal. Those that are against governmental gun control argue that if more citizens had easy access to firearms, violent criminals would be hesitant, not knowing who was armed. Violent crime could be deterred before it started, and could be stopped if it did occur. In states such as Florida, where citizens are allowed to carry concealed weapons, this has proven to be true. The problem with this theory is that more people would potentially take the law into their own hands and it could very easily end in lawlessness

The advocates for stricter gun control argue that fewer guns lead to a lower rate of violent crime. This seems logical to me. If nobody has guns, nobody gets shot. This theory has never been fully put to the test, as no state has gone from allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons to outlawing the practice. Therefore, we don’t know if the crime rate would rise or fall. A compelling argument against stricter gun control laws is that violent criminals will obtain firearms anyway, legally or not, and average, law-abiding citizens will have no way of defending themselves.

To explore these arguments I invite you to take a look at two countries with incredibly low crime rates: Japan and Switzerland.

Japan is well known as having some of the strictest gun control laws. Shotguns (for hunting purposes) are the only firearms that citizens are allowed to own, and they can only obtain these after rigid background checks. Only about .6% of households have firearms (compared with 41% of U.S. households), and as a result they experience only 0.004 murders per 1,000 people (the U.S. is at about .04).

Switzerland, on the other hand, maintains only a very small standing army and relies on a militia system for national defense. Most adult males in the country are members of this militia and keep fully automatic, military assault rifles at home in case of a national emergency. But with all of these firearms, there are only .009 murders per 1,000 people.

Hmm…So the Japanese don’t have guns, and nobody kills anybody, and the Swiss have abundant guns, and nobody kills anybody.

The logical, tragic conclusion:

Guns don’t kill people…Americans do.