Tag Archives: comparative

02.04.13
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Gun Violence in America: The 13 Key Questions (2013)

TITLE: Gun Violence in America: The 13 Key Questions (With 13 Concise Answers) The Atlantic (2013)
SOURCE: The Atlantic
URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-gun-violence-in-america/272727/ 
BITLY WEB STATS: http://bit.ly/YxfycD

FINDINGS (loads of data): (1) overall # of guns has increased to about 1 gun per person, up from 1 gun for every 2 persons in the 1960s. (2) 6,220 of those homicides by firearm (72%) are known to have involved a handgun, (3) 19,392 of 38,264 suicides in 2010 involved a gun (50%), (4) about 40% of households have at least 1 gun, (5) there have been 62 incidents of mass shootings in the US, from 1982-2012. Of these, a semi-automatic handgun was used in 75% of mass shootings whereas an assault weapon was used in 40% of mass shootings, (6) we need better research to evaluate most effective public policies addressing gun violence; (7) The U.S. has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world, by far.

TWEETS: https://bitly.com/YxfycD+

02.28.11
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Gun Utopias? Firearm Access & Ownership in Israel & Switzerland (2011)

TITLE: Gun Utopias? Firearm Access & Ownership in Israel & Switzerland (2011)
SOURCE: Journal of Public Health Policy (JPHP)
AUTHOR(S): Janet Rosenbaum
LINK: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267868/

RESEARCH QUESTION: Gun advocates claim that mass-casualty events are mitigated & deterred with three policies: (1) permissive gun laws, (2) widespread gun ownership, (3) encouragement of armed civilians who can intercept shooters, & cite Switzerland & Israel as exemplars; is it true?

FINDINGS: Compared with the US, Switzerland & Israel have lower gun ownership & stricter gun laws, & their policies discourage personal gun ownership. The Swiss federal government requires gun permit applicants to demonstrate need for protection against a specific risk & pass weapons safety & firearm use regulation tests. Permit holders may own only one handgun for 6 months, after which they must renew their permit every 3 months. Israel rejects about 40% of gun permit applicants, more than any country in the western world. Israel requires all guns to have an Interior Ministry permit & an identifying mark for tracing, & limits which citizens may apply for a permit, based on their residence, occupation, or role in national defense. Applicants are excluded if they take psychotropic drugs or have been arrested for drug use or domestic violence (even if not convicted), & must also pass a Hebrew language test. Permit holders may own only one handgun & must renew their permit annually or whenever their residence, occupation, or national defense role changes. Switzerland gun owners report higher gun-violence victimization rates than non-gun owners. Israel only 81st out of 179 countries in rate of gun ownership. Only 2% of Swiss military members keep their gun post-service. Israel bans use of personal guns for terrorism or crime prevention.

IMAGES: Reason for owning gun, Switzerland v USA: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267868/figure/F2/

Proportion of households with gun, Switzerland v USA: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267868/figure/F1/

TAGS: Israel, Switzerland, Ownership rates, gun culture, myths, comparative policies, international

TWEETS: https://twitter.com/hospiceman/status/304656940154363904

08.08.03
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Homicide, Suicide, and Unintentional Firearm Fatality (2003)

TITLE: Homicide, Suicide, & Unintentional Firearm Fatality: Comparing the United States With Other High-Income Countries (2003)
SOURCE: Journal of Trauma; 70:238-43
URL: http://journals.lww.com/jtrauma/Abstract/2011/01000/Homicide,_Suicide,_and_Unintentional_Firearm.35.aspx
BITLY WEB STATS: https://bitly.com/NPJ5Lj+
AUTHOR(S): Richardson, E. G. S.M.; Hemenway, D., PhD

FINDINGS:

The US homicide rates were 6.9 times higher than rates in the other high-income countries, driven by firearm homicide rates that were 19.5 times higher. The US firearm suicide rates were 5.8 times higher than in the other countries. The US unintentional firearm deaths were 5.2 times higher than in the other countries. Among these 23 countries, 80% of all firearm deaths occurred in the United States, 86% of women killed by firearms were US women, and 87% of all children aged 0 to 14 killed by firearms were US children.