21 Unbelievable Facts About Guns in America
President Obama vowed on Tuesday, with tears running down his cheeks, to end the nation's epidemic of gun abuse, with or without the help of Congress. Obama explained the executive action he intends to take to curb gun purchases in his emotional statement.
A key component of the new initiative will require more gun dealers to obtain licenses, requiring them to perform background checks on prospective customers in order to root out prohibited buyers. Another clause would require federal authorities to track any weapon lost in transit between a manufacturer and a seller.
However, the president stated that his proposals would be insufficient. “Congress must still act,” Obama said. “The people in this room will not stop fighting until Congress does. That if Congress adopts common-sense gun control legislation, we will drastically minimize gun violence.”
Gun rights activists slammed Obama's executive action right away. “The American people do not need more emotional, condescending lectures that are utterly empty of facts,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action.
As the gun control debate rages on in Washington, here are 19 statistics that illustrate how guns play a role in American life.
In 2014, 31 percent of American households reported owning a weapon, the lowest level of reported gun ownership in the last 40 years.
22.4: The percentage of adults in the United States who owned a gun in 2014, up slightly from a record low of 20.6 percent in 2010.
The FBI performed 23 million background checks in 2015, almost tripling the 8.5 million done in 2000.
11 million: The number of weapons produced in the United States in 2013, the year after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. That is more than double the 5.4 million firearms made in 2010.
Defense is cited by 48 percent of Americans as the primary reason for owning a gun, while hunting is cited by 32 percent. In 1999, 49 percent of Americans said the main reason they owned a gun was for hunting, while only 26 percent said it was for defense.
15: The number of minutes in 2016 that elapsed before the first shooting of the year happened — at 12:15 a.m. on January 1, 2016.
39: The percentage decline in gun-related murders between 1993 and 2011.
According to statistics collected by The Guardian, the United States had 2.97 gun murders per 100,000 people in 2012, compared to 38.97 in Venezuela, 0.51 in Canada, 0.19 in Germany, 0.14 in Australia, 0.07 in England, and Wales, and 0.06 in France.
According to a 2012 Congressional Research Service survey, there were 310 million civilian weapons in the United States in 2009. According to the Washington Post, if the figure were revised with data from 2013, there would be more weapons than citizens in the United States.
In 1892, the city of Kennesaw, Georgia, passed legislation requiring all people to carry weapons. The legislation is still in force, but there are a variety of loopholes through which people can opt-out.
60: The proportion of people killed by weapons who commit suicide. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among Americans aged 15 to 34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is the tenth most common cause of death in all age groups.
According to data from Mass Shooting Tracker, the number of mass shootings in the United States in 2015 was 372. A mass shooting is described as an event in which at least four people are killed or injured.
The percentage of people who carry out mass shootings who use lawfully purchased weapons is 80 percent.
27: The number of Americans killed in shooting accidents on Christmas Day last year, equivalent to the total number of gun murders in Austria, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Bermuda, Estonia, Iceland, and Hong Kong combined.
Between 2007 and 2013, the average number of “active shooting incidents” — individuals killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area — was 16.4, up from 6.4 between 2000 and 2007.
According to Gallup, 47 percent of Americans support tighter gun control regulations. This number is slightly lower than the 58 percent reported in 2012 following the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.
According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in July 2015, 85 percent of Americans support expanding background checks for gun buyers. The concept was endorsed by both Democrats (88%) and Republicans (79%).
The NRA invested $17 million in the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.
2,000 – 5,200: Estimated number of gun shows held in the United States each year.
According to a 2011 UCLA School of Public Health report, the ratio of people killed by weapons in the United States relative to other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is 19.5/1. For 15-to-24-year-olds, firearm homicide rates in the United States are 42.7 times higher than in other OECD nations.
132.1: Rise in the stock market value of Smith & Wesson in 2015. Strum Ruger and Vista shares both performed exceptionally well last year, rising 72.1 and 29.9 percent, respectively.
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