Woo-Hoo! U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people!

69charger69charger Posts: 1,045
edited August 2007 in A Moving Train
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070828/us_nm/world_firearms_dc;_ylt=AmXHPCpitD8lR22bLgekI5Ks0NUE

U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people

By Laura MacInnis 1 hour, 19 minutes ago

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.

U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.

About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said.

"There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide. Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per 10 people," it said.

India had the world's second-largest civilian gun arsenal, with an estimated 46 million firearms outside law enforcement and the military, though this represented just four guns per 100 people there. China, ranked third with 40 million privately held guns, had 3 firearms per 100 people.

Germany, France, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil and Russia were next in the ranking of country's overall civilian gun arsenals.

On a per-capita basis, Yemen had the second most heavily armed citizenry behind the United States, with 61 guns per 100 people, followed by Finland with 56, Switzerland with 46, Iraq with 39 and Serbia with 38.

France, Canada, Sweden, Austria and Germany were next, each with about 30 guns per 100 people, while many poorer countries often associated with violence ranked much lower. Nigeria, for instance, had just one gun per 100 people.

"Firearms are very unevenly distributed around the world. The image we have of certain regions such as Africa or Latin America being awash with weapons -- these images are certainly misleading," Small Arms Survey director Keith Krause said.

"Weapons ownership may be correlated with rising levels of wealth, and that means we need to think about future demand in parts of the world where economic growth is giving people larger disposable income," he told a Geneva news conference.

The report, which relied on government data, surveys and media reports to estimate the size of world arsenals, estimated there were 650 million civilian firearms worldwide, and 225 million held by law enforcement and military forces.

Five years ago, the Small Arms Survey had estimated there were a total of just 640 million firearms globally.

"Civilian holdings of weapons worldwide are much larger than we previously believed," Krause said, attributing the increase largely to better research and more data on weapon distribution networks.

Only about 12 percent of civilian weapons are thought to be registered with authorities.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • spongersponger Posts: 3,159
    That statistic is actually skewed by southerners who collect huge stockpiles of guns.
  • prismprism Posts: 2,440
    oh joy, yet another reason to be ashamed of this country.
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  • dunkmandunkman Posts: 19,646
    69charger wrote:
    GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.


    and that is the reason the US is the most homicide friendly nation in the world... fuck knows what the statistic would be for "consumption of donuts per 100 people"

    off the scale no doubt
    oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    sponger wrote:
    That statistic is actually skewed by southerners who collect huge stockpiles of guns.

    Of course. It's only the southerners that have the stockpiles....
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • OutOfBreathOutOfBreath Posts: 1,804
    Unless you american empty your cities and go hunting en masse on weekends, I'd say that's a pretty sad statistic.

    Peace
    Dan
    "YOU [humans] NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" - Death

    "Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
  • 69charger69charger Posts: 1,045
    prism wrote:
    oh joy, yet another reason to be ashamed of this country.

    I assume you live in another country that doesn't have as many guns and that's why you are ashamed, right?

    ;)
  • Uncle LeoUncle Leo Posts: 1,059
    know1 wrote:
    Of course. It's only the southerners that have the stockpiles....

    No. But the fact that many gun owners own multiple guns is important. The story (or study, I suppose) does not get into how owners of multiple guns affect this stat. The reader with poor reading comprehension will say "Wow. 90% own guns" when obviously that is not the case. I am curious to know what % own any. And maybe that is common knowledge, but I've never looked it up.

    Anyway, taking out the "southern" part, Sponger makes a point.
    I cannot come up with a new sig till I get this egg off my face.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    sponger wrote:
    That statistic is actually skewed by southerners who collect huge stockpiles of guns.


    Because Montana is in the south??
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    Uncle Leo wrote:
    No. But the fact that many gun owners own multiple guns is important. The story (or study, I suppose) does not get into how owners of multiple guns affect this stat. The reader with poor reading comprehension will say "Wow. 90% own guns" when obviously that is not the case. I am curious to know what % own any. And maybe that is common knowledge, but I've never looked it up.

    Anyway, taking out the "southern" part, Sponger makes a point.

    I agree with the point being made. Just not with the backhanded slap at Southerners.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    also the highest violent crime rate... interesting coincidence dont you think?
  • KannKann Posts: 1,146
    also the highest violent crime rate... interesting coincidence dont you think?

    Guns don't kill people, just wild animals (people kill people).
    Crazy stats though, especially like that one :
    "There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide. Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per 10 people".
  • g under pg under p Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
    I'm sure with weapon stats like this contributes drastically to our murder rate.

    Peace
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  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    yeah we don't need education, we have our guns lol!!
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    Kann wrote:
    Guns don't kill people, just wild animals (people kill people).
    Crazy stats though, especially like that one :
    "There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide. Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per 10 people".

    you're right. the plethora of guns floating around out there and being sold for pennies on the street probably has NOTHING to do with our murder rates.
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