Gun Ownership and Safety in the United States
“Are areas in the US where gun ownership is high safer to live? Does gun ownership makes people safer? Are there any statistics to prove it?”
From Jeff Knox, Writer/Activist at FirearmsCoalition.org
“Are areas in the US where gun ownership is high safer to live? Does gun ownership makes people safer? Are there any statistics to prove it?”
Over the past 30 years, the number of guns in the U.S. has skyrocketed, approximately quadrupling, with official estimates at around 300 million, and unofficial estimates at more than twice that many. There are firearms available in a bit over 40% of homes, and that percentage is much higher in places like Arizona, Texas, etc. During that time, gun laws have been liberalized across most of the U.S., including Constitutional Carry in 14 states and almost CC in a couple of more, and some form of Concealed Carry available in all 50 states.
In short, guns are ubiquitous, readily available, relatively easy to acquire, and very common in most of the country.
While the numbers and availability of firearms have been going up and restrictions on acquisition and possession of firearms have been going down, the incidence of crimes committed with firearms has plummeted. In most areas, murder is down by 50% or better. Aggravated assault, armed robbery, armed rape, etc., are all down 30% to 40% across the country.
Violent crime is not a national statistic, a state statistic, a county, or even a city statistic; violent crime is a neighborhood statistic.
Absolutely there is less misuse of guns in places where there are fewer guns, just as there are fewer drownings in private pools in Michigan and New York than there are in Arizona and Florida. There are also fewer defensive shootings (or the much more common defensive brandishing of a gun) in places with fewer guns. But there is no indication that the availability of guns has any impact at all on the overall violent crime rate, aside from some evidence that certain types of crime tend to go down in the years after concealed carry becomes more available. Countries having less “gun crime” due to draconian firearm restrictions may have a higher rate of violent crime overall while still touted as “safer” by gun prohibitionists.
People with a propensity for violent crime are a very small subset of the population. The availability of firearms might make them somewhat more dangerous, but it also makes them much more vulnerable. Such people also have little problem getting guns in places where they are severely restricted, while their victims are much more vulnerable in restricted zones.
So, while there is no way to ever get a definitive answer to your questions, what is absolutely undeniabl, is that more guns and less restrictive gun laws do not result in any increase in crime or the deadliness of that crime. Not only is there no indication of causal effects, there isn’t any consistent correlation either.
In short, if lots of guns and gun owners were the problem, the U.S. would be a real-life dystopian movie [some seem to think we are, even as crime and violence go down while quality of life improves.] Instead, aside from a few select streets and neighborhoods within a handful of big cities, the U.S. is among the safest places in the world.