According to article published by The Telegraph, the U.S. leads the world in private firearm ownership with 112.6 guns per 100 residents. Followed by the U.S. is Serbia with 75.6 guns per 100 residents, then Yemen with 54.8 guns per 100 residents, and on the bottom of the list is Norway with 31.3 guns per 100 residents.
The Telegraph states that gun ownership in the U.S. is so extensive that guns outnumber people. The Washington Post reports that the number of guns that Americans own is unknown but it is believed that there are likely 40 million more guns than people. Ironically, the U.S. does not appear on the list of the Top 10 countries for firearm-related deaths.
In fact, the nine European nations with the lowest gun ownership rate have a combined murder rate three times that of the nine European nations with the highest gun ownership rate. The top ten countries that have the highest number of firearm related deaths include Honduras with 67.18 per 100,000 residents annually, Venezuela with 59.13 per 100,000 residents annually, and Swaziland with 37.16 per 100,000 residents annually.
The information published by The Telegraph was retrieved from the Small Arms Survey and the 2012 Congressional Research Service Report. The 2012 Congressional Research Service Report shows privately owned firearms jumped from 192 million in the U.S. in 1994 to 310 million in 2009. This was during a time when the U.S. saw firearm-related murder and non-negligent homicide rates fell 3%.
A recent study published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy concluded that there is a negative correlation between gun ownership and violent crime in countries internationally. In fact, guns are used over 80 time more often to protect a life than to take one in the U.S.
[revad2]
