U.S. Most Armed Country With 90 Guns Per 100 People
Ted Nugent
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. Over half of all new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States.
“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.
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.
“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.
About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said.
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.
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.
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.
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Somewhere Ted Nugent is smiling.
August 29th, 2007 at 6:19 amI like it. The government couldn’t bully it’s citizens if it wanted to. Not to mention that a criminal will think twice about robbing someone.
August 29th, 2007 at 6:20 amThis is very comforting. Most guns in the world are in the hands of relatively rich right wingers.
August 29th, 2007 at 6:45 amYeah, but can’t you hear the lefties crying foul? Guns cause crimes in America and here are the stats to back it up.
Of course lefties aren’t yet smart enough to figure out that a gun is an inanimate object. It is not the gun that’s at fault in a crime…it is the person using it wrongly that’s the real idiot.
Guns are only as good or bad as the person using them. A gun in the hand of a trained professional, or a person outside of law-enforcement who has been trained to shoot well and is well versed in the rule of law….is a danger only to the crimial elements of society.
August 29th, 2007 at 6:58 amHmm, Dan, what I took away from this is that the areas with the fewest guns are the most dangerous. Look at Nigeria and America, at opposite ends of the spectrum. Which one would you want to live in?
Guns lower crime, although there’s often a small rise in fatalities. I’ll take a 5% greater chance of getting shot if it means I have a 75% lower chance of getting robbed.
But that’s just me.
Besides, according to lefties, there’s nothing more ‘noble’ than being a victim. Is it any wonder all their policies tend to increase crime? The same with poverty. They love poor people, so they try to make everyone poor. Except them, of course. They’re special. They can actually plod through Chomsky, so that must mean they’re fit to rule the world.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:29 amBy the way, read this article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=478310&in_page_id=1770&ct=5
My grandmother says they used to hang dealers from lamp posts in her neighborhood, at least after a warning or two, so this guy got off lucky.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:31 amA gun is like a scalpel, it the right hands it does its job and saves lives or at least prevents death, in the wrong hands people die.
Its no coincidence that we are also that nation with the most civil and personal liberties.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:57 amticktickboom:
Good points.
Its no coincidence that Washington DC with one of the most restrive no-firearms laws in the country remains one of the
most lawless. Murder, Inc rule only when citizens can’t defend themselves.
Contrast that with counties and states with concealed carry laws. States that allow their citizens to defend themselves ( or better still are still educated enough to read the second amemdment), have the fewest gun crime deaths.
August 29th, 2007 at 8:34 amDamn straight! anyone breaks into this house and tries to take mine their ass will be smoked..And yeah guns dont kill people, people kill people
August 29th, 2007 at 8:34 amSteve in NC
Somewhere Ted Nugent is smiling.
August 29th, 2007 at 9:46 amsomewhere the founding fathers are smiling
I had a similar argument with a liberal coworker. He was talking about guns causing crime and what not and I asked him what the percentage was of crimes committed with baseball bats and used his logic against him and said we should ban the national pasttime. He got real quiet real fast. They don’t like when their “flawless logic” falls apart right in front of them.
August 29th, 2007 at 10:02 amShit to me this means more guns to protect myself with, good job fellow Americans and keep using the Second Amendment!
August 29th, 2007 at 10:19 amA lot of good points here, Dan Kurt and ticktick.
I look at it this way, not only can we use the argument of banning baseball, but also knives, and most especially all automobiles.
Another thing, these stats take into account the gun colletors that have dozens of weapons, including many that are very valuable and in some case very old. Over all I would say that the odds are more like 60 percent of house holds have at least one firearm. All I know is we should all do our part to increase this to 1 in every one citizen should have a firearm, and be trained in the proper use of it. I love the fact that so many elderly african americans in the Cleveland area have been getting CCW permits because they are sick of the thug culture in their neighborhoods. What a hypocrisy… when they were not the targets of the thuggery, they couldn’t care less about the caucasians, latinos and asians being victimised, and did nothing to help curb the problem. Now they are suffering, it is up to the taxpayers to shell out more to help them fight the crime, but nothing is being said on how to increase the portection for the rest of us…
The best type of gun control is a firm grip…
August 29th, 2007 at 11:07 amThe best type of gun control in the sitting position is wrapping the sling around your arm so the rifle won’t move as easily.
I ran a burglar out of my house with a rifle two months ago. Who knows, without a weapon I might have actually had to kick his fucking ass, because I’ll be damned if I cower and cry like a bitch in the corner.
I’ll be sure to increase the size of my collection.
August 29th, 2007 at 12:04 pmlol @ the picture used here, by the way
August 29th, 2007 at 12:13 pm“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence. To ensure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference, they deserve a place of honor with all that is good.”— - George Washington
’nuff said…….
August 29th, 2007 at 3:57 pmOK one more….
“False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils, except destruction. The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes..Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”~ Thomas Jefferson
August 29th, 2007 at 4:00 pmOops, I stand corrected on the Jefferson quote, it’s from…….
Thomas Jefferson’s “Commonplace” Book, quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria in “On Crimes and Punishment”.
August 29th, 2007 at 4:22 pmInteresting that the countries with the lowest firearms per citizen ratio tend to be the poorest and most oppressed.
August 29th, 2007 at 5:53 pmBring jihad to my door and you will taste 454 casull!
August 29th, 2007 at 6:13 pmThis is very disappointing……..We only own 270 million of the worlds 875 million fire arms??? Damn it! Time to go to the gun store.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:25 amGreetings:
Okay, let’s see…I am the dhimmicrat, liberal, Hilary sniffing, moron, asshole…how shall I post…hmmmm…
The Second Amendment does not give people the right to bear arms in their homes. It also restricts how and when ‘the people’ can keep and bear arms.
Tim Roesch
September 1st, 2007 at 6:54 pmCommand Private Major
Tent pegs for sale or loan
(for what we are about to receive may we be grateful Oh Lord…)