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Gun violence in the United States

Gun violence is an intensely debated political issue in the United States. Gun-related violence is most common in poor urban areas and frequently associated with gang violence, often involving male juveniles or young adult males.

High-profile mass shootings have fueled debate over gun policies.

In 2010 there were 358 deaths involving rifles. Deaths involving the use of pistols in the US that same year totaled 6,009 including suicides.

High-profile assassinations such as those of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and the Beltway sniper attacks involved the use of rifles, usually with telescopic sights, from concealed locations.

The Congressional Research Service in 2009 estimated there were 310 million firearms in the United States, not including weapons owned by the military.

114 million of these were handguns, 110 million were rifles, and 86 million were shotguns.

In that same year, the Census bureau stated the population of people in America at 305,529,237.

Gun policies are influenced by interpretations since the late twentieth century of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees citizens the right to own and carry firearms, as protecting individual gun ownership.

In 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court took a position for the first time in District of Columbia v. Heller, holding that the second amendment secured an individual's right to own firearms.

The incidence of homicides committed with a firearm in the US is much greater than most other advanced countries.

In the United States in 2009 United Nations statistics record 3.0 intentional homicides committed with a firearm per 100,000 inhabitants; for comparison, the figure for the United Kingdom, with where handguns are prohibited was 0.07 per 100,000, about 40 times lower, and for Germany 0.2

Switzerland has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world, with somewhere between 1.2 to 3 million guns in the private residences of its approximately 8 million citizens.

In 2006 there were 34 recorded murders or attempted murders with a gun, representing a firearm homicide rate of 1 per 250,000 (or 0.25 per 100,000)

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The effectiveness and safety of guns used for personal defense is debated. Studies place the instances of guns used in personal defense as low as 65 thousand times per year, and as high as 2.5 million times per year. Under President Clinton, the Department of Justice conducted a survey in 1994 that placed the usage rate of guns used in personal defense at 1.5 million times per year.

Between 1987 and 1990, McDowall found that guns were used in defense during a crime incident 64,615 times annually (258,460 times total over the whole period)

McDowall's study for the American Journal of Public Health contrasted with the 1993 study by Kleck, who found that 2.45 million crimes were thwarted each year in the United States by guns, and in most cases, the potential victim never fired a shot.

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Beware of any politician that agrees with dictators!

“US Senator, If I could have banned them all – ‘Mr. and Mrs. America turn in your guns’ – I would have!”
- Diane Feinstein, Statement on TV program 60 Minutes, Feb 5 1995

Tags: 2013, America, ban, gun, laws, violence

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lt. Ariel Duchesne, USN Ret. on January 9, 2013 at 2:06pm

Guns are not violent. A gun never committed a crime. Lawless amoral people commit crimes. If a lawless amoral government succeeds in disarming its' people then Crime, Inc., led by KBHO, will rule by pointing the barrel of a gun at its' citizens and many lambs will die.

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Permalink Reply by R. Ray Morford on January 9, 2013 at 5:24pm

Thank you Lt. Duchesne. This amoral society and government should become informed about fire arms before they open their mouths and show the public how ignorant they are about the subject. The mental health programs in our nation are lacking credibility. Our Nation could put a large dent in crime with proper mental health care. Some citizens should never be released on the streets again. With proper care, many can become useful citizens again. I speak from 36+ years in Law Enforcement. As a Nation, we're sending the wrong people to Washington D.C. to speak for us.

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Admin IIPermalink Reply by Bill Bissell, Admin II on January 9, 2013 at 5:53pm

Some of them in Washington should be in mental health programs.

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Permalink Reply by Phil on January 9, 2013 at 6:08pm

Thank you for your keen insight and 36 years of service

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Permalink Reply by Ginger Lymbery on January 9, 2013 at 6:54pm

I just got through reading again, the Constitution. Will someone out there please tell me where in the Constitution, that the president has the right of "executive orders" that go around the Constitution? I could not find it anywhere....is this something that Congress has decided that they can do without regard to the law of the land? I am serious, where is this right given to the president?

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Permalink Reply by Lt. Ariel Duchesne, USN Ret. on January 10, 2013 at 9:21am

The executive branch has purview only over the executive. KBHO can only direct the actions of the executive branch in compliance of law as passed by the peoples' representatives. The executive branch can not new law where it does not already exist. The executive branch cannot change existing law. The legislative branch must change law that does not work or has proven to be harmful. The executive branch can not selectively enforce law. This abrogates the principle of equal application of the law.

In fact this present executive branch has been in violation of existing law, miss-applied existing law and willingly failed to enforce existing law. If this is not reason enough to impeach... what is?

The executive branch is not supposed to execute its will, it is supposed to executive the will of the people as legislated by the peoples representatives... the legislative branch.

If the legislative branch allows this to continue, what use is the legislative branch... they are in fact negligent in application of their duty.

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Permalink Reply by Fisherman on January 9, 2013 at 2:11pm

I believe the 310 million figure is on the conservative side. There are a lot more than that.

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Permalink Reply by Clarence E. DeBarrows on January 9, 2013 at 2:15pm

Cite all the statistics, rationalizations and figures that you want. The 2nd Amendment affords the Citizen the right to bear arms. PERIOD

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Permalink Reply by mister mike on January 9, 2013 at 2:38pm

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They don't care.... To them there is NO Constitution or 2nd amendment.... Since when do you feel a foreign hostile take over gives a donkeys tail about the laws of their victim country.... Not....

(That was not a personal point I was making Clarence, more a general one, sorry if it sounded personal)
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Permalink Reply by Robert James Burkholder on January 9, 2013 at 2:18pm

I hear in Great Britain that violent crime has increased exponentially with their Gun Control.It makes no difference. SO long as the standing army-or the police--or more important the street thugs have the guns denied the citizen--then the Patriot will take the guns he needs when the time comes. Unless Feinstein and her unconstitutional group of tyrants disarm their own armed police /security. Unless they can disarm the street gangs -that recently got a boatload of "assault weapons" thanks to Obama( if the national news is to be trusted?) I seem to recall Los Angelese as the dateline?Unless the "nasties" as the Brits call them-- are disarmed ONLY a bloomin idiot would not be armed.the local police are only responsible for crimes they see happen. They are NOT compelled to protect,but serve to enforce the law.The images beneath the text were most appealing.

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Permalink Reply by Phil McConathy on January 9, 2013 at 2:19pm

Crazy mentally deranged people are the problem. Not typical gun owning American citizens. These actions by our socialist legislators and other goons in DC are the real threat to America. Question is will we have enough conservatives and true patriots in Dc to stop this foolishness? I am not confident we have many left to fight for our true rights and the 2nd amendment.

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Permalink Reply by Lonnie William Lynch on January 9, 2013 at 2:55pm

Phil McConathy it appears that if there is going to be any fighting to protect our, We The People rights It is going to be up to us to do our own fighting !! There are nothing but slime balls in Washington that fight only for themselves !!! And actually we had better start getting organized to do just that very quickly because dictator want to be Obama is on the move !!