For example, in South Africa in 2000, the Firearm Control Act contained all these measures, and saw a 13.6 percent reduction in firearm homicides every single year for the next five years.
A similar overhaul law was introduced in Australia in 1996 in the wake of a mass murder, and according to one study, overall firearm death rates decreased by 14 percent the following year. Tellingly, there also hasn't been another mass shooting in the country in the 20 years since.
But even outside of those huge overhauls, small changes were found to make a difference.
"Laws restricting the purchase of (e.g. background checks) and access to (e.g. safer storage) firearms are also associated with lower rates of intimate partner homicides and firearm unintentional deaths in children, respectively.
I see comparing statistics is a distraction. How many times does the gun industry have to cry wolf before we stop believing everything they say? I have seen their propaganda magazines and hear their nonsense and that is what it is. The bottom line is that the gun industry, its lackey, the NRA, and all its mentally challenged followers are trying to defend their ‘dogma’ with other people’s lives!! We are in a state of civil war; insanity, arrogance and cowardice on the one side and the deaths of innocents on the other. For too long we have become slaves to the gun industry we need to demand our freedom from their, profit at all cost, ideology.
"access to (e.g. safer storage) firearms are also associated with lower rates of intimate partner homicides and firearm unintentional deaths in children, respectively." So, how are you going to inforce safer storage? I will give you a hint...they are not. If a law were to be passed requireing locked storage of guns, no police are going to show up to check. All they will do is to add another charge on that person after the shooting.
You don't have to work for NASA to know that fewer guns in a society the less violent that society. I am convinced it's not lack of knowledge that keeps the gun people going but just plain greed, stupidity and a total lack of concern for others. It is a willful point of view.
Oh, Jesus H Christ! The Central and South American countries have the highest gun-murder rates in the world and yet the strictest gun control laws. Notice that the anti-gun entities always hedge their statement with a modifier: "The U.S. has the highest gun deaths of all the "Western/Developed/Industrialized" countries in the world." Those that think Brazil is not a Western, Developed or industrialized country have never been to Rio de Janeiro.
It's common sense, isn't it. Yet, like a religion, people (gun nuts) want to believe the opposite. Their religion is guns. Agruing to them for gun control is like arguing an evangelical about the existence of god.
Just a note, The Rand Corporation, a non-partisan group just came out with its report on Gun Policy in America today. [rand.org]
The results of the report are summarized by VOX in its story entitled
"A new, huge review of gun research has bad news for the NRA The findings, while limited, point in one direction: Gun control can save lives". [vox.com]
I have not had time to go through all the material.
Those against common-sense gun control don't care about the facts.
It doesn't matter what evidence is presented to them, they have their
position and that's all that matters to them. They don't want to hear
anything that goes against what they believe.
Indeed, the NRA actively suppresses any attempt to use evidence, studies, facts, data any correlation at all between gun deaths and and guns.
@jorj Apples and oranges. It is not reasonable to compare the two. There are also laws against texting and driving. Further, texting and driving doesn't kill dozens of people inside of a couple of minutes. It's also not just the "left" wanting to ban AR-15 style weapons and high-capacity magazines. That argument is false and isn't working anymore.
@jorj Oh, it gets a whole lot worse than cell phones...250,000 deaths a year from medical mistakes. But no one is holding any protest or candlelight vigil for those people. Or the 64,000 that die from drug overdoses. But then, reporting that on the news does not make for as good ratings as tearful interviews of shooting victims.