repealing prohibition made it safer, not the gun act sheesh
Last I looked, as a general proposition, countries with functional governments that have stronger laws against personal ownership of guns have lower rates of gun violence.
Public Mass Shooters and Firearms: A Cross-National Study of 171 Countries.:
CNN:
If things were as hopeless as you imply, then the relatively brief period of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994 - 2004) wouldn't have made any difference. People argue about the extent of the difference, but it did make a positive difference, even with the loopholes and other issues. Lots of facts and figures are here if you want to argue about them.
Cheers,
Scott.
Public Mass Shooters and Firearms: A Cross-National Study of 171 Countries.:
Lankford A.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Model the global distribution of public mass shooters around the world.
METHOD:
Negative binomial regression is used to test the effects of homicide rates, suicide rates, firearm ownership rates, and several control variables on public mass shooters per country from 1966 to 2012.
RESULTS:
The global distribution of public mass shooters appears partially attributable to cross-national differences in firearms availability but not associated with cross-national homicide or suicide rates.
CONCLUSION:
The United States and other nations with high firearm ownership rates may be particularly susceptible to future public mass shootings, even if they are relatively peaceful or mentally healthy according to other national indicators.
CNN:
Between 1966 and 2012, there were 90 mass shootings in the United States. Mass shootings are defined for the study as having four or more victims and don't include gang killings or slayings that involve the death of multiple family members. These shootings include the one in Orlando -- now the worst mass shooting in U.S. history -- and others in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, both in 2012.
The 90 U.S. mass shootings are nearly a third of the 292 such attacks globally for that period. While the U.S. has 5% of the world's population, it had 31% of all public mass shootings.
"People have been a little surprised by these statistics," said Adam Lankford, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama, who did the analysis. Lankford presented his work at the American Sociological Association's annual conference last year and says it's the first research of its kind to do a global comparison.
If things were as hopeless as you imply, then the relatively brief period of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994 - 2004) wouldn't have made any difference. People argue about the extent of the difference, but it did make a positive difference, even with the loopholes and other issues. Lots of facts and figures are here if you want to argue about them.
Cheers,
Scott.
