ABC
The United States has more guns and gun deaths than any other developed country in the world, researchers found.
A study by two New York City cardiologists found that the U.S. has 88
guns per 100 people and 10 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people — more
than any of the other 27 developed countries they studied.
Japan, on the other hand, had only .6 guns per 100 people and .06
gun-related deaths per 100,000 people, making it the country with both
the fewest guns per capita and the fewest gun-related deaths.
Drs. Sripal Bangalore, who works at NYU Langone Medical Center, and
Dr. Franz Messerli of St. Luke’s Medical Center studied the statistics
of guns per capita and gun deaths. They used firearm injury data from
the World Health Organization and guns per capita data from the Small Arms Survey to put together a list of 27 developed countries.
They said they carried out their study because of what they said are
seemingly baseless claims on either side of the gun control debate.
“I think we need more of what I would call evidence-based discussion
and not merely people pulling things out of their hats,” Bangalore said.
“We hear time and time again about these shootings, especially in the
last year or so. A lot of claims are made…so we wanted to look at the
data and see if any of this holds water.”
They concluded that more guns do not make people safer.
Debate Magazine
