France has crazy strong gun control… experienced a mass shooting on Tuesday. “Chekatt had been radicalized in prison and was being monitored by French intelligence services since at least 2015 due to his suspected religious extremism. Authorities did not say which religion; however, supporters of the Islamic State terror group were celebrating the shooting online, according to the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi communications worldwide…Before opening fire on the Christmas market in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Chekatt, 29, yelled “Allahu Akbar,” Paris’ public prosecutor said. Chekatt escaped the scene in a taxi.” Another interesting fact is that France has had more deaths from mass shootings than the US had during the entire presidency of Obama. [1]. How odd. Their gun laws are more strict than California and Chicago. While French gun ownership is estimated to be around 19 per 100 people.
England has a higher per capita crime rate than America. Per 1,000 people, England is rank 2nd in the world at 109 per 1,000; while America is 41 per 1,000 (22nd in the world) [2]. In murders, England is 6.6 per 1,000; while America is 5.6 per 1,000 [3]. The crime of assault victims, or people who claim to be a victim of assault, England is 2.8% percent, while America is 1.2% [4]. Hu, that’s interesting because England as crazy struct Gun Control laws… but that doesn’t seem to phase criminals. And their gun ownership is roughly 4.6 to 5 per 100.
Finland, Switzerland and Norway have very high gun ownership. Finland is 32 per 100 people and Norway has 28 per 100 people. Switzerland has 27.6 per 100. Guess what their gun violence is like? [7][8] Finland homicide rate is 0.028 per 1,000! Switzerland homicide rate is 1 per 1,000! Norway homicide rate is 0.6 per 1,000! WHAT? How is this possible if they (1) have a high firearm ownership, and (2) have lax gun control laws??? Yep, you guessed it, GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE! People kill people. A culture and a society that devalues human life does.
Can Gun Control Laws Reduce Murder?
Well, when we look at this globally, France and England point us to an obvious answer. NO. Because if the laws themselves did, France and England would have different numbers; the fact is, they have worse numbers than America. They have more crime per capita, a lower gun ownership, AND stricter gun control laws. But let us look at this from a domestic perspective.
California is number one in the nation for Gun Control laws [8]. Since they have done such an amazing job restricting their citizens from gun ownership, how well does that translate in their crime stats? As of 2016, they are at 90 per 1,000 of violent crime and has been fairly steady over the past decade or so. That is almost as much as England’s TOTAL CRIMES per capita. Here’s the kicker, The firearm homicide rate, which adjusts for population changes, increased by 15 percent from 2014 to 2016. [9] How can it increase when they are the strictest? Lets look even deeper into a City with the absolute strictest gun control.
Chicago is so bad, there is even a website called https://heyjackass.com/ that tracks the violence in that city. A person is shot EVERY 2:55 minutes and murdered ever 14 minutes in Chicago! They BANNED handguns in the city limits from 1982 until 2010 when the Supreme Court had to rule their ban unconstitutional (McDonald vs. City of Chicago). Then in 2012, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Illinois concealed carry ban as unconstitutional. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence rated Chicago as rank 8 IN THE NATION for their gun control laws. From 1982 to 2012, people could not conceal carry. How was their crime rate during the all out ban? They averaged 500 to 600 homicides a year! During the Ban!! [10]
What does all this mean?
So when we look at it from a city perspective, state perspective and from a global perspective we see the truth about a couple things:
- More gun ownership does NOT cause more crime.
- Finland, Switzerland and Norway = high gun ownership, has low crime. Relaxed gun laws, and has low crime.
- More gun control does NOT reduce crime.
- California and Chicago = lower gun ownership, still has high crime. Strict gun control laws, still has high crime.
What is the cause for gun violence and high crime?
A culture of violence, undisciplined, and devaluation of human life. Finland, Switzerland and Norway have a high standard of living and high cultural morals. They see weapons as essential for defense and national sovereignty; as WWII showed these nations. America on the other hand are spoiled, undisciplined, immature adults that no longer have the same value for life as it once did. They are so spoiled that they are losing the notion that weapons are essential for defense and national sovereignty.
England shows that you can take away all the guns, but you will still have murder just the same. France still has mass shootings. California has continuous crime despite strict laws. Chicago’s homicide rate stayed the same during the unconstitutional gun ban.
What About New York?
They like to point to their strict gun control laws and the reduction in homicides. What they DON’T tell you is that these low rates, were just as low in 1960 and all the decades prior. PRIOR to ANY modern gun control law. AND during that time, they had a higher gun ownership rate as well. [11] THIS only supports the idea of American societal progression of a violence culture. The historic spike in homicides is not due to guns but due to the cultural trend of morality.
It doesn’t matter if there were 1 gun control law or 50,000 or even a flat out gun ban… criminals don’t obey the laws.
What do Gun Control Laws Do?
Criminals will find guns (see France and Chicago during the gun ban). Does it make it harder for them to get? Is it hard for drug addicts to attain illegal drugs? NOPE. If they want it, they will find it. BUT those who do try to obey the laws, THEY will be restricted from gun ownership. NON-Criminals, law abiding citizens face the complexity and frustrations of attempting purchase weapons for self defense. THEY face the restriction of their FREEDOM.
If people want to kill, they will either find a way to get a gun OR just use another tool; like a knife for example. England is proof of this as well [12]. Violence with a knife has increased by 22% across England! “the biggest annual increase ever recorded…Almost 40,000 offenses involving knives or sharp weapons were recorded by police in the year” See, they don’t need guns. They have kitchen knives.
We aren’t even touching on how many times a good guy with a gun has stopped a criminal with a gun. A study conducted by Gary Kleck, Ph.D. is a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University in Tallahassee found that “American civilians use their firearms as often as 2.5 million times every year defending against a confrontation with a criminal, and that handguns alone account for up to 1.9 million defenses per year.” [13]. If they did not have a superior tool for self defense, that would have made more than 1.9 million victims of crimes…
So what?
Exactly. Gun Control advocates won’t even listen to these facts; whats the point? Politicians don’t care about these facts either. Ignorant, or 2nd Amendment hating voters, don’t care about these facts and the logic behind it. They hate guns, and hate you for owning them. To them, you are a potential murderer anyway. The intolerance and judgementalism of gun owners is amazing. But it goes both ways.
Those who enjoy their right to self defense are cowards in America; just like those in France and England. As their ability to defend against violence has been reduced; this is becoming even more true for Americans. No one stands up and fights back. When gun control advocates open their ignorant mouths, most gun rights advocates tend to be more quite. THAT ISN’T WORKING. The silence of gun owners is failing America and allowing the ignorance of Gun Control spread like a wild fire.
Either sell your guns and STFU or grab your weapon and TAKE A STAND.
2. https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Total-crimes-per-1000
3. https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Murders/WHO
4. https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Assault-victims
5. http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-kingdom
6. https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-8588611
8. https://www.inverse.com/article/37141-state-gun-law-maps
9. https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article177540461.html
THE AMERICAN LIFE JOURNAL 