In theory, the right to bear arms seems logical. But many people from England or Vietnam say that America is crazy for allowing its citiznes to own guns. They argue that their country has a much lower crime rate because guns are illegal. But I have never seen any solid statistical evidence for either case.
Here are two pieces of data from guncite.com, a website which documents research on the second amendent and gun control. The data is a bit out of data, but still makes a point.
First is a chart on the number of guns owned per 1,000 Americans vs. year vs. homicide and suicide rates. Notice that as gun ownership increases, both homicides and suicides remain stable or slightly decrease. An entire description of this chart can be found here.
A second chart compares gun ownership vs. homicides throughout various countries. The study finds that there is no strong correlation between gun ownership and homicides.
For instance, in 1999, 39% of Americans owned at least one gun and yielded 5.7 homicides per 100,000 people. In 1994, only 9.4% of North Ireland citizens owned at least one gun, but their homicide rate was slightly higher at 6.09 per 100,000. And lastly, in 1994, 22.6% of French citizens owned at least one gun, at 1.12 homicides per 100,000. View the entire chart of country comparisons here.
I understand the data is a bit outdated, but it still holds some validity. Despite the statistics, the Founders believed that gun ownership was essential to resist tyranny from other government as a Militia, and -- as a secondary benefit -- protecting ourselves from our fellow citizens.
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