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 actions ruled as self-defense. [http://www.mppgv.org/facts&stats_content.htm Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence: Statistics] ] 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. [http://health.enotes.com/public-health-encyclopedia/gun-control Encyclopedia of Public Health: Gun Control] ]

The phrase "gun violence" has been criticized as conveying policy bias, as it de-emphasizes the role of the criminal in violent attack, and instead emphasizes his chosen tool; [ [http://www.snubnose.info/wordpress/rkba/gun-violence/ "Gun Violence," Front Sight, Press; 9/24/2006] ] [ [http://www.topix.com/forum/guns/T97HQMPVNJ0BQC54B "Gun Violence," Topix; 3/3/2008] ] it is not clear, by analogy, that the discussion of traffic safety would be advanced by the term, "automobile violence." By contrast, the phrase "gun crime" is consistently used by both gun-control and gun-rights policy advocates, though with differing emphases: the former group stresses the need to remove guns from society via restrictions, while the latter group champions the need to remove criminals via increased prison terms. [ [http://www.bradycenter.org/about/ "About us," Brady Center to Prevent Violence, undated] ] [ [http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?id=202&issue=007 "Targeting Criminals, not Gun Owners," NRA-ILA; 8/17/06] ]

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. [Cook, Philip J., Gun Violence: The Real Cost, Page 29. Oxford University Press, 2002]

Homicides by country

The homicide statistics listed below are for "intentional homicide", which is "death deliberately inflicted on a person byanother person", [cite web |url=http://www.unodc.org/pdf/crime/seventh_survey/InstrumentE.pdf |title=Questionnaire for the Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 - 2000 |publisher=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)] including justifiable homicide and criminal homicide. It should be noted that, in the US, "homicide" is a manner of death, considered separate from accident (even accident with firearm) and suicide. [ [http://co.el-dorado.ca.us/sheriff/2002%20Coroner%20Stats.pdf 2002 Manner of Death chart, Coroner's Office, El Dorado (CA) County Sheriff's Department] ] However, statistics looking at gun violence will often combine homicide, suicide, and gun accident data. For example, the CDC includes homicide, suicide, and "legal intervention" in its "Violence-related" data; [ [http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html WISQARS Injury Mortality Reports, 1999 - 2005, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] ] other sources for statistics are often less transparent about their raw data. [ [http://www.reason.com/news/show/30225.html Henry E. Schaffer, Don Kates and William B. Waters IV: Public Health Pot Shots--How the CDC succumbed to the Gun "Epidemic." Reason Magazine] ] [ [http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?id=196&issue=011 Pro-Gun Groups & Anti-Gun Groups--Does Anti-Gun Researcher David Hemenway Have Something To Hide? NRA-ILA, 3/24/06] ]

ee also

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

References