US gun homicide rate 25 times higher than other nations: Study
Americans are 25 times more likely to be murdered by a gun than people in other developed nations, according to a recent study.
Overall the death rate involving guns in the United States is 10 times higher than 22 other high-income countries, researchers from the University of Nevada-Reno and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have found.
Homicide is the second leading cause of death for Americans between 15 to 24 years of age, the research revealed.
“More than two-thirds of the homicides in the US are firearm homicides and studies have suggested that the non-gun homicide rate in the US may be high because the gun homicide rate is high,” said Erin Grinshteyn, assistant professor at the University of Nevada-Reno School of Community Health Science and the study’s co-author.
The study found that the overall homicide rate in the US is seven times higher than other developed countries. When discounting guns, the homicide rate was 2.7 times higher.
The study, based on data from the World Health Organization, was published in the American Journal of Medicine.
When compared to other developed countries, gun-related suicide rate is also eight times higher in the US.
David Hemenway, a professor at Harvard, said differences in overall suicide rates across US cities and states are best explained by the “availability of firearms,” not by mental health or the attitude towards suicide.
“Many suicides are impulsive, and the urge to die fades away. Firearms are a swift and lethal method of suicide with a high case-fatality rate,” he pointed out.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), firearms are the cause of death for more than 33,000 people in the United States every year, a number that includes accidental discharge, murder and suicides.
President Barack Obama has vowed to use "whatever power this office holds" to put restrictions on gun sales through a series of executive actions, which do not require congressional approval.
Polls show an overwhelming majority of Americans, including 84 percent of gun owners, believe background checks are necessary for gun purchases made at gun shows or online.
US photographer opens Berlin exhibition with anti-Israel speech
Majority of US Jewish teens 'sympathize with Palestinians': Survey
Malcolm X’s daughters sue US police, FBI, CIA over ‘intentional’ killing
What led to dilly-dallying in ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant
Palestinians flee Gaza City suburb after Israel issues forced evacuation order
Iran says will discuss key nuclear, regional issues with France, Germany, UK
VIDEO | Israeli archaeologist killed in Southern Lebanon
VIDEO | Israeli airstrike on Lebanon's army base kills soldier, injures 18 others
Sirens sound across Tel Aviv as Hezbollah fires barrage of missiles at Israeli target
Israeli ‘archeologist’ who toured south Lebanon in military uniform to falsify history
The importance of Venezuela for Iran
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
