Gun violence

Gun violence is the broadly defined category of violence and crime committed with the use of a firearm; it does not include the safe lawful use of firearms for sport, hunting, target practice, law enforcement, or self-defense. Gun violence encompasses intentional crime characterized as homicide (although not all homicide is automatically a crime) and assault with a deadly weapon, as well as unintentional injury and death resulting from the misuse of firearms, particularly by children and adolescents.

Levels of gun violence vary greatly across the world, with very high rates in South Africa and Colombia, as well as high levels in Thailand, Guatemala, and some other developing countries. Levels of gun violence are low in Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, and many other countries. The United States has the highest rates among developed countries, which some account to the loose firearm laws in the U.S. compared to other developed countries.

Homicides by country

The homicide statistics listed below are for "intentional homicide", which is "death deliberately inflicted on a person by another person", including justifiable homicide and criminal homicide.

Intentional Homicides (non-firearm and firearm homicides) by country Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2000 "The statistics cannot take into account the differences that exist between the legal definitions of offences in various countries, of the different methods of tallying, etc.Consequently, the figures used in these statistics must be interpreted with great caution. In particular, to use the figures as a basis for comparison between different countries is highly problematic." Country Non-firearm homicide rate per 100,000 pop. Firearm homicide rate per 100,000 pop. % homicides with firearms Overall homicide rate per 100,000 pop. Australia 1.26 0.31 16.3435 1.57 Azerbaijan 2.8078 0.2236 7.3770 3.0314 Barbados 7.4906 2.9963 28.5714 10.4869 Belarus 10.1300 3.3100 24.6280 13.4400 Bulgaria 4.0652 0.7714 15.9494 4.8366 Canada 1.04 0.54 25 1.58 Chile 1.5461 0.1776 10.3053 1.7237 Colombia 62.7400 51.7683 45.2092 114.5083 Costa Rica 6.57 3.38 34 9.95 Czech Republic 1.69 2.07 55 3.76 Denmark 1.09 0.26 19 1.35 England & Wales 1.33 0.12 8 1.57 Estonia 10.4456 1.5340 12.8049 11.9795 Finland 2.19 0.43 16 2.62 Germany 1.1679 0.4672 28.5714 1.6350 Guatemala 25.4737 18.5000 42.0706 43.9737 Hungary 2.0500 0.4400 17.6707 2.4900 India 3.72 0.93 20 4.65 Ireland 1.01 0.32 24 1.33 Latvia 10.0337 1.2648 11.1940 11.2985 Lithuania 10.0135 2.2463 18.3223 12.2598 Macedonia, FYR 2.3141 1.2802 35.6164 3.5943 Mexico 14.1112 3.6622 20.6051 17.7735 Moldova, Republic of 8.1270 0.4671 5.4348 8.5941 New Zealand 1.1747 0.1827 13.4615 1.3574 Paraguay 12.0451 7.3508 37.8987 19.3959 Poland 5.6072 0.4289 7.1062 6.0362 Portugal 2.4788 0.8488 25.3776 3.3100 Qatar 0.53 0.18 25 0.71 Singapore 0.9209 0.0249 2.6316 0.9457 Slovakia 2.6473 2.1659 45.0000 4.8132 Slovenia 1.8109 0.6036 25.0000 2.4145 South Africa 51.3901 74.5748 59.2028 125.9650 Spain 1.2506 0.2456 16.4129 1.4962 Switzerland 0.96 0.56 37 1.52 Thailand 8.4679 33.0016 79.5805 41.4695 Ukraine 8.9253 0.3495 3.7682 9.2747 United States 4.55 2.97 39 7.52 Uruguay 4.6149 2.5172 35.2941 7.1321 Zimbabwe 7.2381 4.7460 39.6026 11.9841

See also

• Castle Doctrine
• Duty to retreat
• Shall Issue Concealed Carry
• Gun violence in the United States