| </span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (Geoff332,)
In 1999, the US had a murder rate of 5.70 per 100,000 -- 3.72/100,000 were firearm related... The average murder rate for the entire EU is 1.42 per 100,000; 0.53 for gun murders.
This is neither an argument for nor against gun control.
Good advice...<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>
To try and normalize the data, I did a quick ratio or firearm murders : all murders. I found it interesting that despite the easy availability of guns, the ratio for the US was only .65, while the EU was .37. And while the US rate is 75% higher than the EU figure, I would have expected it to be much higher (in the 80-90% range) than that if the availability of firearms was so dominant in the cause of murder rates.
You are right. No agrument for or against. It may be fun to play number games, but comparing the costs of gun availability without weight of the benefits of the same gives you a number that is meaningless. |