Hi there,
Thanks for such an interesting question. I saw Bowling for Columbine
last week, and although it is obviously one-sided, the message was
powerful.
It appears that the numbers you mentioned are from Bowling for
Columbine, and are accurate for homicides involving firearms in 1999.
I was able to find three of them quoted online, on Government web
sites.
Mr Moore's numbers
==================
USA 11,127
This figure can be found by visiting this page at the National Center
for Injury Prevention and Control:
http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10.html
1. Select "Homicide and Legal intervention"
2. Select "Firearm"
3. Select 1999 to 1999
[Moore has included cops shooting criminals, which within the context
of his film is quite valid.]
-------
Canada 165
"Thirty-one percent of homicides committed in 1999 involved firearms.
Firearms were used in 165 homicides, up from 151 in 1998, which was
the lowest level since data were first collected nationally in 1961"
Statistics Canada
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/001018/d001018b.htm
-------
Australia 65
"Assaultive force (that is, hands and feet) was the second most common
method /
weapon used (24.0%), followed by a firearm (n=65; 19.3%). A further 10
per cent of victims were killed with a blunt instrument."
Australian Institute of Criminology
Homicide in Australia 1999-2000
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti187.pdf
Other Sources for Data
======================
Most authorative studies I found refer to a 1998 study:
Gun Homicide (per 100,000)
Japan 0.03
Singapore 0.07
Taiwan 0.15
Kuwait 0.34
England/ Wales 0.07
Scotland 0.19
Netherlands 0.27
Spain 0.19
Ireland 0.30
Germany 0.21
Italy 1.16
Sweden 0.18
Denmark 0.23
Israel 0.72
New Zealand 0.22
Australia 0.56
Belgium 0.87
Canada 0.60
Norway 0.36
Austria 0.42
Northern Ireland 3.55
France 0.55
Switzerland 0.46
Finland 0.87
USA 6.24
Rates of firearms deaths for most countries are from:
United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
International study on firearm regulation (revised). Vienna: United
Nations, 1997.[tables 2.7, 6.2 and 7.1].
Rates for the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Belgium, France,
Switzerland and Norway, who did not respond to the UN survey, are
from:
Killias M. International correlations between gun ownership and rates
of homicide and suicide. Can Med Assoc J 1993;148(10):1721-5. (who
cites 1989 figures from the UN interregional study.)
Online, tables with additional data on gun suicides, percent of
households with guns, registration and licensing, can be seen at:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pphb-dgspsp/publicat/cdic-mcc/19-1/d_e.html
http://www.guncontrol.ca/Content/International.html
-------
Different figures, from a 1998 study by the National Center for Health
Statistics, with similar relative differences between countries, can
be seen at the Violence Policy Center:
http://www.vpc.org/press/0203france.htm
...and at Join Together
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/alerts/reader/0,2061,549581,00.html
-------
You might also like to see a year by year list for the USA, from the
Bureau of Justice Statistics
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/weaponstab.htm
-------
The best overall site on this topic is SAFER-Net, with detailed
information on firearm ownership and mortality for 35 countries:
http://www.research.ryerson.ca/SAFER-Net/
Without the focus on guns
=========================
Regarding a comment made below - the evidence from the Princeton
undergraduate is way off the mark. Mr Moore's documentary is about
guns killing people, whereas the numbers quoted from Interpol are
purely murders, with no indication of the means used. This is an
important difference, which many commenters on the documentary do not
consider.
It does, however, make interesting food for thought. When considering
murders regardless of method, the numbers for the USA are not so
extreme. Here in Australia, in the unlikely event that someone told me
they were going to murder someone, I would be imagining they would use
severe beating, stabbing, suffocating or poisoning. Only the Mafia,
drug dealers, farmers and hunters would think of murder using a gun.
This table is for the year 2000, except for the UK, which is 1998.
Country Murders Population Rate per 100,000
------- ------- ---------- ----------------
Germany 2770 82,163,475 3.37
France 2166 58,518,748 3.70
Canada 1308 30,750,087 4.25
UK* 1428 52,010,160 2.75
Australia 693 19,153,840 3.62
Japan 1391 126,919,288 1.10
US 15520 281,421,900 5.51
http://www.princeton.edu/~eharkler/(html)%20Bowling%20for%20Columbine%20crime%20statistics%20comparison.htm
Data originates from Interpol
http://www.interpol.int/Public/Statistics/ICS/downloadList.asp
Suicide
=======
While it appears that Americans, when in a dilmena, first think of
shooting someone, in other countries the trend is more towards
shooting oneself. Although it is a little less unjust, it is still a
violent solution to problems. In other countries, the Columbine
protagonists might just as easily have committed suicide instead.
Annual rate of suicide per 100,000, 1998
----------------------------------------
Japan 25.1
Finland 23.4
Switzerland 20.2
France 17.9
New Zealand 15.1
Germany 13.6
Norway 12.4
Canada 12.3
USA 11.3
http://www5.who.int/mental_health/main.cfm?p=0000000515
Sample Search Strategy
======================
Google: 2001 Germany France Canada mortality firearm OR handguns
Google: australia 1999 homicide 65
If this wasn't the information you were after, or you would like to
know more about any aspect of my answer, just ask for a clarification.
Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga |
