"According to Gunpolicy.org, Russians have far fewer guns than Americans — and far more homicides."
There are fewer than 13 million firearms in circulation in Russia, compared with an estimated 300 million in the United States. That works out to about 9 guns per 100 people in Russia and closed to 100 guns per 100 people in America."
The most recent homicide statistics for Russia show that there were 21,603 killings in 2009
According to the FBI, the United States had 13,636 homicides in 2009 with a population that is more than twice as large. More than 80 percent of those killings were gun-related."
It's difficult to make a direct comparison of gun homicides in the two countries because Russia doesn't break down its murder statistics."
The Right to Bear Arms, a Moscow-based organization that has more than 5,000 members, is trying to make guns more easily available in Russia."
"Our citizens are deprived of normal tools of self-defense, and that plays an important role in public safety," Maria Butina, the group's 24-year-old founder, told The Moscow News."
But she has a long way to go in convincing the public. A poll by the Levada Center in 2011 showed that 80 percent of Russians are opposed to easing existing gun laws."
Via Instapundit, NPR
16 comments:
It was George Will on the old Brinkley Show who said that the genius of Ronald Reagan was putting a smile on the face of conservatism.
Whatever became of Charlton Heston?
Judging by what I hear in Woodstock, one of the liberal capitals of the universe, stats and evidence have nothing to do with the gun controversy.
Liberals just hate guns, and they loathe the concept of self-defense, whether that self-defense takes the form of a gun or fists.
So, I think the debate is somewhere between useless and hopeless.
I am still waiting for phx to connect the dots - Russia, fewer guns, more murders. Chicago, more gun laws, more murders. Nairobi, more muslims more murders.
But somehow the "our culture" is to blame for everyone killed by any means anywhere in the world.
. . .
The neighborhood I grew up in was so tough we didn't use guns.
We pushed the bullets in manually.
Old joke.
But somehow the "our culture" is to blame for everyone killed by any means anywhere in the world.
Try rebutting what I actually argued next time.
"Fewer murders than Russia!" There's a slogan we can all get behind.
One of those things I remember from college, but can't confirm nowadays on the internet, was something some bigshot guy said in the mid 19th century: "All of this country's problems would be solved if every Irishman would murder a Negro and then be hanged for it."
Funny stuff.
Liberals just hate guns, and they loathe the concept of self-defense, whether that self-defense takes the form of a gun or fists.
Right. Except in my experience dogmatic local liberals insist on gun control for you, but not so much for them. If a Michigan liberal feels even moderately threatened, the hire armed body guards, or go apply for their own CPL...because shut up.
In Michigan, remember, about 80%+ of Republicans are liberals, and the Democrats are hopeless ... you can't them apart if they don't have their lapel pin on.
Sixty Grit said...
But somehow the "our culture" is to blame
There is a part of our culture to blame for the epidemic of gun violence. Those who undermine the law as a tool for the rich to take from the poor normalize the idea of taking from other members of society. Those who claim that businesses "exploit" by offering people their best employment opportunity delegitimize free exchange. If free exchange is devalued as theft, violence, or otherwise illegitimate violence becomes just another choice.
The left's 60's effort to propagandize the poor and disaffected away from mainstream society for use in their glorious revolution created this mess. When they belatedly realized the direct method wouldn't work they walked away to undermine the universities, leaving behind countless broken communities. By delegitimizing civil society and fetishizing murderers like Che Guevara and Mumia Abu-Jamal the left has ruined the lives of countless people while posing as their saviors.
Be sure to include Obama on that list.
So Russia is another "Gun Free Zone". With 1 gun per hundred citizen. If you have a gun, you can pretty much do what you want, take what you want, fuck what you want, punish who want, and nobody can stop you. I don't like that arrangement, and really wouldn't if I was a child or a woman less physically powerful than most others around me. I prefer a society with more equality under the law.
The US is 3rd in the world in murders until you take away Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC and New Orleans.
Then, we're 4th from the bottom.
Eric the Fruit Bat said...
It was George Will on the old Brinkley Show who said that the genius of Ronald Reagan was putting a smile on the face of conservatism.
Whatever became of Charlton Heston?
He went home.
This doesn't take into account the fact that most Russians are too drunk to properly aim.
We have more guns but Russia has a lot more vodka.
Why do we argue the endemic nature of firearms? We know what they do and at the same time we have a right to own them and use them for our defense if necessary. It's pretty clear, but yet we do this song and dance and frankly I'm sick of it. Pro 2nd amendment supporters are right on this issue. Everyone else is flat wrong.
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