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Saturday, December 22, 2012

Healthiest and Deadliest Gun Cultures Around the World

Latin America has the deadliest gun culture while Western Europe has the healthiest.  Interestingly enough the United States is almost right in the center (which is not that bad when one considers it has the largest amount of guns per capita in the world).

With all the discussion about gun violence in the news I decided to compare number of gun homicides to number of guns.  The results are below

Of note I found it fascinating that number of guns and gun homicides seem to have no positive correlation.  In fact, most of the countries with the healthiest gun cultures have more guns, not less.





9 comments:

Dan tdaxp said...

I love the data. Using the "Analysis Took Pack: Correlation" in Excel gives an r = 0.15, which means the relationship is basically non-existent

Anonymous said...

This is really NOT what the link to Wikipedia says.. In fact, it's a complete fabrication. Your link to Wikipedia shows the US at #14 of the 75 countries listed,just above Costa Rica, which is notorios for Gun Crime, if you order by "Homicides".. Correlating "Number of Guns" against "number of Gun Homicides" is irrelevant simply because in the US, the tendan

Catholicgauze said...

Anonymous,
We are looking at two different things. The US does have a slightly higher gun homicide rate per 100,000 people than Costa Rica. You are correct on that. However, the US has many, many more guns than Costa Rica. This means a person with a gun in the United States is significantly less likely to commit a homicide with their gun than a gun owner in Costa Rica. Hence the US having a healthier gun culture.

Evan (PolGeoNow) said...

Very interesting! I wonder why no one else seems to have thought of analyzing it from this angle?

Andy Davis said...

I'm guessing the big variable would be the culture of hunting in various countries. It would be interesting to look specifically at assault weapons by country vs homicide rate.

Catholicgauze said...

Andy,
Good theory. I'll look to see if there is any data out there.

Catholicgauze said...

Evan,
Thanks!

Unknown said...

I like the presentation. Unfortunately, the term "gun homicides" may be too limiting. Gun deaths, including homicides, suicides, and accidents, would be more accurate in assessing the implications of high or low gun numbers. Actually, you could look at injuries as well as fatalities.

Sources:http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/GUNS/GUNSTAT.html
www.childrensdefense.org/.../protect-children-not-guns-2012.pdf

Catholicgauze said...

Hi David,
The reason I am only looking at homicides is because I wanted to focus on the culture's treatment of the gun and abuse of it specifically. Suicide is an important driver but I wanted to separate that from the crime of murder.