http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=11888

Gun Control: Hiding Their Heads in San Francisco

With this erroneous claim to bolster them, San Francisco supervisors kicked off a campaign to get voters to approve a city-wide handgun ban to take effect in 2006. What they are ignoring, besides statistical data, is history.

Gun Ownership and Murder Rates

Mr. Barnes used the term “mortality.” The US did have higher total mortality rates in 1999––the most recent World Health Organization statistics available online––than either Australia and the United Kingdom. (2) Both countries, Australia in 1996 and UK in 1997, instituted massive gun bans, and are surrounded by water, theoretically making it easier to restrict smuggling, yet drastically reduced lawful gun ownership has not correlated decisively with murder rates.

 

	1999 Mortality Rate/1,000	Change Since 1996
UK	10.6	-1.8%
USA	8.8	.5%
AUS	6.8	-3.4%

But to say this is due to greater US firearms ownership is misleading at best. The murder rate trend in the US compares favorably to the UK and AUS since the latter two countries’ banned guns.  

 

Homicide 1996-2001 (3)
	1996			2001
	Murders	Population	Rate/1,000	Murders	Population	Rate/1,000	Change
UK (Eng/Wales)	679	52,010,000	0.013	850	52,041,916	0.016	25.1%
USA	19,645	265,228,572	0.074	16,037	285,317,559	0.056	-24.1%
AUS	350	18,310,700	0.019	340	19,357,594	0.018	-8.1%

With no conclusive relationship between civilian disarmament and murder rates, the onus of proving that law-abiding gun owners represent a threat to public health and safety rests firmly with the SF supervisors. Unless, of course, they intend to force a legal system upon residents that presumes guilt.

Internationally, the US compares even more favorably, rated 24^th overall in murder rate. All countries with higher rates have far more gun control; they have no Constitutional right to own guns, and self-defense is not a valid reason for ownership. (4)

Gun Ownership and Suicide Rates

The following table summarizes World Health Organization statistics. (5)

 

Suicide Rates (per 100,000 population)
	1995	1999/2000	Change
UK	7.4	7.5	1.4%
USA	11.9	10.4	-12.6%
AUS	12.0	12.5	4.2%

Again, there is no relationship between civilian disarmament and suicide rates. As with murder rates, the US is 27^th overall in suicide rate, and countries with higher rates have more gun control. (6)

Further confirmation that gun ownership has no consistent correlation with murder and suicide comes from a study that collated a United Nations report and found no positive correlation between gun ownership and higher levels homicide or suicide. (7)

Washington, D.C.: Grave Warning

In 2003, our nation’s capitol experienced a murder rate of 44.2 per 100,000 population, about 10 times the rates of nearby states and nearly 8 times the national rate. (8) This is a continued trend begun in 1976, when D.C. instituted a gun ban, claiming the dubious title of “Murder Capital of the World” 14 of the last 15 years. (9)

Conclusion

Certain San Francisco supervisors are choosing to ignore history. With so much evidence casting doubt upon the wisdom of banning civilian firearm ownership, they would be wise to abandon their plan. Considering all the easily-accessible information contradicting their claims of noble intent, one must pause and ponder what their true motivation may be.

Since it has been in vogue for cities to sue firearms manufacturers for criminal use of highly-regulated, non-defective products, it would seem legal ground has been prepared for similar suits in the reverse direction: that city politicians should be held accountable for death and destruction of public safety resulting from the flawed policies they enact. Perhaps we need to start a new holiday: Take a Politician to Court Day.

Footnotes

(1)    San Francisco supervisors propose sweeping gun ban, Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer, Wednesday, December 15, 2004.http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/12/15/state1859EST0145.DTL

(2)    World Health Organization, WHO Statistics: Mortality Database.
http://www3.who.int/whosis/mort/table1.cfm?path=whosis,mort,mort_table1&language=english

(3)    UK Murder rates: Crime in England and Wales 2002/2003. British Home Office, July 2003, page 53. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb703.pdf  

England & Wales Pop 1996, page 51
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/PT90book_V2.pdfEngland & Wales Pop 2001, page 10 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/downloads/pop2001ew.pdf  

USA Stats and population:
FBI Uniform Crime Reports. At http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/03cius.htm , Table 1.   

AUS murder rates:
Australian Crime Facts and Figures 2002, Australian Institute of Criminology, November, 2002, page 6.
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/facts/2002/facts_and_figures_2002.pdf

AUS Population:

1996 Australian Population, Year Book Australia 2002, Australian Bureau of Statistics.
http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs%40.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/0db74c39eee3a02fca256b350010b402!OpenDocument

2001 Australian Population, Nation by Nation
http://www.nationbynation.com/Australia/Population.html

(4)    Crime: Murder, Nationmaster.com.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_cap

(5)    Suicide rates for United Kingdom 1950-1999, World Health Organization, 2004.
http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/373.pdf

Suicide rates for United States 1950-2000, World Health Organization, 2004.
http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/374.pdf

Suicide rates for Australia 1950-2001, World Health Organization, 2004.
http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/281.pdf  

(6)    Mortality: Self-Harm, Nationmaster.com.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/mor_sel_har_cap

(7)    Cross-Sectional Study of the Relationship Between Levels of Gun Ownership and Violent Deaths, Greenwood, March 2000.
http://www.wfsa.net/adobe_documents/Cross_Sectional_Study.PDF

(8)    Crime in the States, 2003, FBI. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_03/xl/03tbl05.xls

(9)    House Republicans Want to Get Rid of D.C. Gun Ban, Jon E. Dougherty, NewsMax.com, September 15, 2004. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/9/14/161546.shtml