With the amount of controversy on gun laws and with both sides having valid arguments, it's essential to try to see things from an impartial point of view. This can be a heated subject for a lot of people, so it is important to know the facts and to understand what they mean.
According to the US Census Bureau, the current population is hovering just above 314 million. From the data collected from firearm manufacturers, we know that there are around 85 million gun owners in the US. Around 35-40 million of those are handgun owners. Many of the handgun owners follow concealed carry laws for their states to be able to carry concealed weapons.
A survey taken in 2010 indicated that around 30-34% of US adults were gun owners and 17-19% owned handguns (as opposed to shotguns or rifles). In 2005, a Gallup pole showed that of the 1,012 randomly chosen survey takers, 47% of adult males and 13% of adult females were gun owners. 41% of Republicans reported owning a firearm as compared to 23% of Democrats and 27% of Independents. 67% of the gun owners in the survey reported that "protection against crime" was their primary reason for owning a firearm.
The Justice Department has reported that firearms may be used in self-defense as often as 1.5 million times every year.
An argument for concealed carry laws was supported by an article published in the Wall Street Journal in 1996. The study "More Guns, Less Violent Crime" followed the crime statistics from all counties from 1977 to 1992. It found that the states that had enacted concealed carry laws for its citizens had reduced crime rates across the board. On average, murder rates were reduced by 8.5%, rape was down 5%, aggravated assault by 7%, and robbery by 3%.
An excellent example of this is the Virginia metropolitan area as compared to Washington, D.C. 25 years after D.C.'s complete ban on gun ownership (which happened in 1975, so statistics reported are from 2000), the murder rate was reported to be 46.4 per 100,000 people, as opposed to Arlington, VA, which was 2.1 per 100,000 (located directly across the river). These numbers can also be compared to the entire VA metropolitan area, ringing in at 6.1 per 100,000.
Comparing the FBI annual reports on firearm fatalities with the "Annual Survey of Football Injury Research" will show that around twice as many children are killed while playing football at school than are murdered by firearms each year.
According to the US Census Bureau, the current population is hovering just above 314 million. From the data collected from firearm manufacturers, we know that there are around 85 million gun owners in the US. Around 35-40 million of those are handgun owners. Many of the handgun owners follow concealed carry laws for their states to be able to carry concealed weapons.
A survey taken in 2010 indicated that around 30-34% of US adults were gun owners and 17-19% owned handguns (as opposed to shotguns or rifles). In 2005, a Gallup pole showed that of the 1,012 randomly chosen survey takers, 47% of adult males and 13% of adult females were gun owners. 41% of Republicans reported owning a firearm as compared to 23% of Democrats and 27% of Independents. 67% of the gun owners in the survey reported that "protection against crime" was their primary reason for owning a firearm.
The Justice Department has reported that firearms may be used in self-defense as often as 1.5 million times every year.
An argument for concealed carry laws was supported by an article published in the Wall Street Journal in 1996. The study "More Guns, Less Violent Crime" followed the crime statistics from all counties from 1977 to 1992. It found that the states that had enacted concealed carry laws for its citizens had reduced crime rates across the board. On average, murder rates were reduced by 8.5%, rape was down 5%, aggravated assault by 7%, and robbery by 3%.
An excellent example of this is the Virginia metropolitan area as compared to Washington, D.C. 25 years after D.C.'s complete ban on gun ownership (which happened in 1975, so statistics reported are from 2000), the murder rate was reported to be 46.4 per 100,000 people, as opposed to Arlington, VA, which was 2.1 per 100,000 (located directly across the river). These numbers can also be compared to the entire VA metropolitan area, ringing in at 6.1 per 100,000.
Comparing the FBI annual reports on firearm fatalities with the "Annual Survey of Football Injury Research" will show that around twice as many children are killed while playing football at school than are murdered by firearms each year.
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