Report Highlights:

• The U.S. has more than 82 million lawful firearm owners.
• 53% of the 21 states with restrictive concealed carry laws have violent crime rates higher than the national average.
• 55% of states with a violent crime rate below the national average have permitless carry.
• Between 60,000 and 2.5 million Americans use firearms for self-defense each year.
• 40% of criminals convicted of crimes while in possession of a firearm were already prohibited from carrying firearms.
• A 2018 study shows that 68% of those convicted of crimes while in possession of a firearm were already felons.
• The U.K. and Australia have a higher number of homicides per firearm than the United States.



If guns were more regulated, would crime rates go up, down, or stagnate? We can review several years' worth of gun violence statistics, ownership, and crime trends between states and countries to better understand the impacts of guns on crime.

Gun Violence and Legal Gun Owner Statistics

• There are more than 82,000,000 legal gun owners in America.
• In 2022, Wyoming had the least firearm-related homicides (17) and more firearms per person than any other state.
• It is currently estimated that more than 2.5 million Americans use firearms for self-defense each year.
• States with the highest number of crime guns recovered have varying rates of ownership, meaning that lawful firearm ownership has no correlation to firearm-related crimes.
• The number of American citizens who support strict gun control has declined since 1992 (56% in 2023 versus 78% in 1990).
• Of the 28 states with permitless carry, only 10 have violent crimes above the national average.

Lawful Gun Ownership and Crime

States with the highest rates of gun ownership have the fewest gun crimes per the ATF eTrace. However, states with large population sizes have higher rates of guns used in crimes (recovered).



The five states with the highest number of recovered guns have varying rates of lawful gun ownership.

Unlawful Possession and Gun Violence

Gun violence statistics vary by state due to different state laws. In the 13 least restrictive gun states (2008), ⅔ of criminals convicted of a crime where a firearm was involved weren’t stopped by existing laws and wouldn’t have been stopped by stricter legislation.

31% would not have been prohibited from firearm possession if gun laws were stricter
40% were already prohibited
28.9% would have been prohibited if gun laws were stricter
Note: These calculations do not include the age of the offender at the time of arrest, and therefore, the number of prohibited persons may be higher.

A 2018 study performed on inmates in Illinois shows that 74% of re-offenders were convicted of a second firearm-related crime within 10 years.

• 68% of felons used illegal guns
• 67% of murderers had a prior arrest record
• 21% of murderers had multiple prior arrests
• 2.3% of 7,632,470 arrests in 2020 involved weapons

Gun Violence Rates by Country

Many gun control proponents state that other countries do not have as many homicides as the United States. However, we can see that gun ownership does not correlate with homicide rates.



Continue reading Gun Violence Statistics 2024: A Comprehensive Look at the Data on Ammo.com

I absolutely HATE the term "gun violence".
Stop using the lefts terms.
Don't normalize it.

Mixing total numbers and per capita in the same chart is pretty sketchy. Doesn’t matter if it looks good for our team.

Agree with Creslin. Stop using the left's language. Guns are not violent, people are.

There's no such thing as gun violence; there's only violence.



If we're talking about gun usage statistics, then we should be calling these 'gun usage statistics'.

quote:

53% of the 21 states with restrictive concealed carry laws have violent crime rates higher than the national average.
55% of states with a violent crime rate below the national average have permitless carry.

These are the types of things that make it hard to win an argument for our side.

50% being higher than average...crazyiness I know.

If roughly 50% of anything is above or below average, just throw it out, that is the definition of averages, and proves nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by BOATTRASH1:
Agree with Creslin. Stop using the left's language. Guns are not violent, people are.

For the same reason, I dislike the term gun rights. Guns do not have rights; gun owners do. However, I understand "gun owners' rights" does not roll off the tongue as easily.

Bupkiss
Silly bunch of numbers

This alleged here say won't
prompt anything

"Between 60,000 and 2,500,000 Americans use firearms for defense each year."



That's quite a spread from year to year. Where did that statistic come from?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Oregon,

quote:

Originally posted by Oregon:
That's quite a spread from year to year. Where did that statistics come from?

The large spread is due to several studies & surveys which concluded w/ different figures. 60K is the most conservative estimate (i.e., not politically conservative but least generous estimate).

Much of the difference is due to how one defines successfully using a firearm in SD. For example, gun control proponents often throw out the stat that more gun owners are killed by their own guns annually than successfully use them in SD. If you're comparing the annual number of gunshot suicides to SD cases where the perpetrator was shot dead, then this is true. The crux here is, do you have to have killed a perp and have it ruled as justified homicide for it to count as a successful SD?

What if the perp got shot and survived?
What if the perp was not injured but fled after being shot at?
What if the perp fled once he saw his victim was armed and prepared to defend himself, but no shots were fired?

Would you consider any or all of the above as successful uses of SD using a firearm? There's more to it, but what a researcher counts as successful SD is largely responsible for the spread you questioned.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
There's no such thing as gun violence; there's only violence....

Same as "hate" crime.

Preach on it.

Are the UK numbers based on NDs?

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
Are the UK numbers based on NDs?

I apologise in advance in case I'm wrong, but to me ND means 'negligent discharge'.

I've had guns of my own since 1968 - probably north of a hundred or so, and still have twenty-three in regular use.

I've never had any kind of ND, nor has anybody else I know of.

The last person shot and killed by a policeman in my county was also the first since records began.

If ND means something else, then you'll have to provide more descriptive data than simply asking an unsupported question, but I guess that the figure is based on proportionality. Since there are only around a million or so legally-held firearms in the entire UK, the number of those killed with ILLEGAL firearms would certainly bump up the proportion of deaths resulting from the use of ANY kind of firearm.

However, reading the actual report - I note -

'The UK vs. US crime rates

It’s important to consider gun violence statistics among various countries. The UK has 615,627 firearms with 673 total homicides, as opposed to the United States, 500,000,000 with 24,867 total homicides. There are .21 homicides per firearm in the U.K. compared to only 0.004 homicides per firearm in the U.S.

Furthermore, Americans have access to 20,107 firearms per homicide. Those in the U.K. have access to only 915 firearms per homicide.'

It is therefore axiomatic that if there are less guns available, then the numbers of shooting that are attributable to their use will necessarily be higher, and since the vast majority of uses of guns in criminal shootings are used by the criminals themselves, and not the legal owners of firearms, the figures are somewhat skewed. The use of LEGALLY-owned firearms to commit ANY offence is so small as to be virtually non-existent, but I'll look them up for you anyhow, because I'm kind.

AAMOI - this recent publication is from the National Crime Agency-

'Levels of firearms crime in the UK remain amongst the lowest in the world; however, criminals continue to engage in firearms enabled crime.

4.5% of firearm offences from April 2021-April 2022 involved fatality or serious injury. Source: Office for National Statistics. Firearms crime is currently lower than the long term trend. There were 5,750 firearms offences recorded in England and Wales in the year ending March 2022. This was 35 more (0.6% increase) than the year ending March 2021, which was at the lowest level since the year ending March 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Firearm discharges from lethal-barrelled weapons account for about 9% of firearm offences. About 40% of all reported discharges are against the person, with most of these resulting in an injury. Serious injury from firearms is low, and fatalities rare, with 26 deaths in 2022 - close to an all time low. Most firearms enabled serious violence continues to occur in London, West Midlands and the North West.

Urban street gang activity accounts for most firearm discharges, including those that result in injury. The key drivers for firearms enabled serious violence is the drugs trade, ‘turf wars’, criminal debt and feuds. Some of these criminal feuds are long-standing and result in periodic escalations of violence. Violence can be directed by criminals elsewhere, for example, abroad or in prison. Most victims are other criminals although sometimes innocent people are shot in cross-fire or in cases of mistaken identity.

There is diversification of firearms availability in the UK, where criminals are likely to use what they can acquire rather than what they want. Original lethal purpose firearms (mainly handguns) are preferred and are sourced abroad, often online, and smuggled into the UK. Shotguns are typically stolen in residential burglaries in the UK, some of which were not held on licence. Criminals convert some types of blank-firing weapons to fire live or modified ammunition and also resort to improvised/home-made weapons (including with 3D-printed components) and previously obsolete-calibre firearms. The number of recovered homemade firearms with 3D-printed components (such as hybrid firearms) has increased this year and the reliability, functionality and quality is improving. It is highly likely that criminals have a growing interest in hybrid 3D-printed firearms. The criminal use of fully automatic weapons, such as submachine guns and automatic rifles, remains very rare in the UK.

9% of firearm offences from April 2021-April 2022 involved a discharge from a lethal barrelled weapon. Source: Office for National Statistics.Most firearms recovered by law enforcement have not been previously fired in crime and when they have been, most have been used only once, before being disposed of or never used again. The few firearms that are used in more than one incident are, however, responsible for a disproportionate level of serious violence.

It remains highly unlikely that the war in Ukraine is impacting on the UK serious and organised crime firearms threat. After the war, it is a realistic possibility that some firearms will be traded on the European criminal marketplace. This threat of firearms diversion is likely mid to long term, where countries neighbouring Ukraine are likely to become transit hubs for firearms trafficked to mainland Europe. Despite the number of firearms available in conflict zones, very few types available pre-conflict or donated by Western governments are used by criminals in the UK.'

NB - 'Serious injury from firearms is low, and fatalities rare, with 26 deaths in 2022'.

And you think the UK has a problem? It's entirely likely that more people were killed by shooting in the USA than that while you read my post.


Addendum - 'What firearms are used in UK gun crime?

The exact weapon used in gun crime offences in the UK is not often known. This is due to the fact that unless the weapon is reported by eyewitnesses, the suspect is caught or the weapon can be identified forensically then it is difficult to know what weapon was used. That being said, in the year ending September 2022, a total of 6,369 firearm offences were reported in the United Kingdom. 2,245 of those firearm offences involved imitation firearms such as replicas, BB guns, deactivated firearms, blanks and other non-live firing weapons. Excluding imitation firearms, it is clear that handguns are used for most offences with 1990 being reportedly used. The handguns’ smaller nature not only makes it easier to conceal and wield but easier to traffic as it takes up less room. The gun’s outlawed nature and cultural symbol may also add to its popularity. Handguns are popular within urban gangs although knives still remain more prevalent as they are more widely available.'

As the man once noted - 'There are lies, damned lies, and statistics'.

Notice how they bypass the racial demographics of gun murders in the US?

"Illegal gun" is another inaccuracy, an inanimate object cannot break or comply with a law (other than a natural law). "Illegally possessed" makes sense, as does "prohibited person" although the latter is often misunderstood and misused due to the numerous ways and numerous authorities who can issue such prohibitions.

Regardless, statistical justifications for or against gun issues will never make any difference in resolving the continued controversy. This is because opinions on the matter are mostly based on emotion rather than logic. Trying to use logic or statistics on a "true believer" of any stripe is an exercise in futility. This phenomenon is part of the human genome, and likely has some evolutionary benefit akin to tribalism.

So what are we to do when confronted by someone on the "other side" when they use the very same statistics to justify their position as we do to justify ours? I don't claim to have any answers but, at the very least, we nned not cede home court advantage by choosing the same emotionally-laden words and phrases that they do in an attempt to skew the playing field. Instead, let's establish a home turf of our own, and encourage them to play on it.

This includes forbearing oneself from using terms/words such as:

• gun violence
  
• gun crime
  
• illegal gun
  
• weapon
  

Please feel free to add to this list.

quote:

This includes forbearing oneself from using terms/words such as:
gun violence
gun crime

I agree. I never use those terms, and I always push back on people when they use those terms.

I usually follow with something along the lines of "My guns must be defective: they've never committed any violence."

ammodotcom, let's see about modifying that subject line, please.