Editing Right to keep and bear arms (section)

== Gun violence and the politics of the right to bear arms ==

[[File:2010 homicide suicide rates high-income countries.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Gun-related homicide and suicide rates in high-income [[OECD]] countries, 2010, countries in graph ordered by total death rates (homicide plus suicide plus other gun-related deaths)<ref name="AJM201603">{{cite journal |last1=Grinshteyn |first1=Erin |last2=Hemenway |first2=David |title=Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries, 2010 |journal=[[The American Journal of Medicine]] |date=March 2016 |volume=129 |issue=3 |pages=266–273 |doi=10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.10.025 |pmid=26551975 |doi-access=free }} ([https://archive.today/20180901041428/https://www.webcitation.org/726BRzNvK?url=https://www.amjmed.com/action/showFullTableImage?isHtml=true&tableId=tbl4&pii=S000293431501030X Table 4]). ([https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)01030-X/pdf PDF]).</ref>]]
[[File:2019 Gun ownership rates and gun homicide rates - developed world - scatter plot.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Multiple studies show that where people have easy access to firearms, gun-related deaths tend to be more frequent, including by suicide, homicide, and unintentional injuries.<ref name="CNN_20211126">{{cite news |last1=Fox |first1=Kara |last2=Shveda |first2=Krystina |last3=Croker |first3=Natalie |last4=Chacon |first4=Marco |title=How US gun culture stacks up with the world |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/26/world/us-gun-culture-world-comparison-intl-cmd/index.html |work=CNN |date=November 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126193406/https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/26/world/us-gun-culture-world-comparison-intl-cmd/index.html |archive-date=November 26, 2021 |url-status=live |quote=CNN's attribution: Developed countries are defined based on the UN classification, which includes 36 countries. Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (Global Burden of Disease 2019), Small Arms Survey (Civilian Firearm Holdings 2017)}}</ref>]]
Legal restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms are usually put in place by legislators in an attempt to reduce [[gun violence|firearm-based violence]] and crime.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/International/Story?id=3066193&page=1 |title=U.K. Response to School Massacre: Ban Handguns |first=David |last=Wright |date=April 22, 2007 |work=ABC News }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/29/europe/union.php |title=EU legislators push tougher gun controls |work=[[International Herald Tribune]] |date=November 29, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208193010/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/29/europe/union.php |archive-date=February 8, 2008 }} [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/world/europe/29iht-union.4.8532843.html Alt URL]</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/01/us/clinton-calls-brady-law-a-success-and-backs-more-limits.html |title=President Clinton Calls Brady Law a Success and Backs More Limits |work=[[New York Times]] |date=December 1, 1999 }}</ref> Their actions may be the result of political groups advocating for such regulations. The [[Brady Campaign]], [[Snowdrop Campaign]], and the [[Million Mom March]] are examples of campaigns calling for tighter restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms. Accident statistics can be hard to obtain, but much data is available on the issue of gun ownership and gun-related deaths.

=== United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute ===

The [[United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute]] (UNICRI) has made comparisons between countries with different levels of gun ownership and investigated the correlation between gun ownership levels and gun homicides, and between gun ownership levels and gun suicides. A "substantial correlation" is seen in both:<ref name="UNICRI">{{cite book |last=Killias |first=Martin |year=1993 |chapter=Gun Ownership, Suicide and Homicide: An International Perspective |editor1-first=Anna |editor1-last=Alvazzi del Frate |editor2-first=Ugljesa |editor2-last=Zvekic |editor3-first=Jan J. M. |editor3-last=van Dijk |title=Understanding Crime, Experiences of Crime and Crime Control – Acts of the International Conference, Rome, 18–20 Nov 1992 |pages=289–306 |location=Rome |publisher=United Nations International Crime & Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) |isbn=9290780231 |chapter-url=http://www.unicri.it/wwk/publications/books/series/understanding/19_GUN_OWNERSHIP.pdf |quote=During the 1989 and 1992 International Crime Surveys data on gun ownership in eighteen countries have been collected on which WHO data on suicide and homicide committed with guns and other means are also available. The results ... based on the fourteen countries surveyed during the first ICS and on rank correlations...suggested that gun ownership may increase suicides and homicides using firearms, while it may not reduce suicides and homicides with other means. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107174528/http://www.unicri.it/wwk/publications/books/series/understanding/19_GUN_OWNERSHIP.pdf |archive-date=2008-01-07 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|text=During the 1989 and 1992 International Crime Surveys, data on gun ownership in eighteen countries have been collected on which WHO data on suicide and homicide committed with guns and other means are also available. The results presented in a previous paper based on the fourteen countries surveyed during the first ICS and on rank correlations (Spearman's rho), suggested that gun ownership may increase suicides and homicides using firearms, while it may not reduce suicides and homicides with other means. In the present analysis, four additional countries covered by the 1992 ICS only have been included, and Pearson's correlation coefficients have been used. The results confirm those presented in the previous study.|author=Martin Killias|source=Understanding Crime, Experiences of Crime and Crime Control – Acts of the International Conference<ref>{{cite book |last=Killias |first=Martin |year=1993 |chapter=Gun Ownership, Suicide and Homicide: An International Perspective |editor1-first=Anna |editor1-last=Alvazzi del Frate |editor2-first=Ugljesa |editor2-last=Zvekic |editor3-first=Jan J. M. |editor3-last=van Dijk |title=Understanding Crime, Experiences of Crime and Crime Control – Acts of the International Conference, Rome, 18–20 Nov 1992 |pages=289–306 |location=Rome |publisher=United Nations International Crime & Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) |isbn=9290780231 |chapter-url=http://www.unicri.it/wwk/publications/books/series/understanding/19_GUN_OWNERSHIP.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107174528/http://www.unicri.it/wwk/publications/books/series/understanding/19_GUN_OWNERSHIP.pdf |archive-date=2008-01-07 }}</ref>}}

UNICRI also investigated the relationship between gun ownership levels and other forms of homicide or suicide to determine whether high levels of gun ownership added to or merely displaced other forms of homicide or suicide. They reported that "widespread gun ownership has not been found to reduce the likelihood of fatal events committed with other means. Thus, people do not turn to knives and other potentially lethal instruments less often when more guns are available, but more guns usually means more victims of suicide and homicide." The researchers concluded that "all we know is that guns do not reduce fatal events due to other means, but that they go along with more shootings. Although we do not know why exactly this is so, we have a good reason to suspect guns to play a fatal role in this".<ref name="UNICRI" />

This research found that guns were the major cause of homicides in three of the fourteen countries it studied: [[Northern Ireland]], [[Italy]], and the United States.<ref name="UNICRI" /> Although some data indicates that reducing the availability of one significant type of arms—firearms—leads to reductions both in gun crimes and gun suicides and moderate decreases in overall crimes and overall suicides, the author did caution that "reducing the number of guns in the hands of the private citizen may become a hopeless task beyond a certain point," citing the [[Right to keep and bear arms in the United States#The politics of the right to keep and bear arms|American example where gun laws remain a subject of heated debate]] (see also [[Gun politics in the United States]]).<ref name="UNICRI" />

A posterior study by UNICRI researchers from 2001 examined the link between household gun ownership and overall homicide, overall suicide, as well as gun homicide and gun suicide rates amongst 21 countries. The researchers declared, "The results show very strong correlations between the presence of guns in the home and suicide committed with a gun, rates of gun-related homicide involving female victims, and gun-related assault."<ref name="UNICRI2001" /> There were no significant correlations detected for total homicide and suicide rates, as well as gun homicide rates involving male victims.<ref name="UNICRI2001">{{cite journal |last1=Killias |first1=Martin |last2=van Kesteren |first2=John |last3=Rindlisbacher |first3=Martin |year=2001 |title=Guns, Violent Crime, and Suicide in 21 Countries |journal=[[Canadian Journal of Criminology]] |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=429–448 |doi=10.3138/cjcrim.43.4.429 |url=https://pure.uvt.nl/portal/files/5263789/GunsKilliasvKesteren.pdf }}</ref>

=== Other ===

Some other research indicates that gun levels do not affect the total number of homicides or the total number of suicides, but rather affect the share of homicides or suicides committed with guns.<ref>''Journal of Criminal Justice'' 43:30–38 (2015); Social Science Quarterly 110(3):936–950 (2019)</ref>

Public-health critic, gun-rights proponent, and editor-in-chief of ''[[Surgical Neurology International]]'' [[Miguel Faria]] contended in 2012 that keeping and bearing arms not only has constitutional protection, but also that firearms have beneficial aspects that have been ignored by the public health establishment in which he played a part.<ref name="Faria" /> He also contended that guns benefit self-defense, collective defense, and protecting life and property.<ref name="Faria">{{cite journal |last1=Faria |first1=Miguel A. |title=America, guns, and freedom. Part I: A recapitulation of liberty |url=https://surgicalneurologyint.com/surgicalint-articles/america-guns-and-freedom-part-i-a-recapitulation-of-liberty/ |journal=Surgical Neurology International |year=2012 |volume=3 |pages=133 |publisher=Elsevier |doi=10.4103/2152-7806.102951 |pmid=23227438 |pmc=3513846 |access-date=17 April 2020 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Faria 2">{{cite journal |last1=Faria |first1=Miguel A. |title=America, guns and freedom: Part II – An international perspective |journal=Surgical Neurology International |year=2012 |volume=3 |pages=135 |publisher=Elsevier | issue=1| doi=10.4103/2152-7806.103542 |pmid=23227440 |pmc=3513850 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

A 2012 study in the journal ''[[Annual Review of Public Health]]'' found that suicide rates are greater in households with firearms than those without them.<ref name="Miller 393–408">{{cite journal | vauthors = Miller M, Azrael D, Barber C | title = Suicide mortality in the United States: the importance of attending to method in understanding population-level disparities in the burden of suicide | journal = [[Annual Review of Public Health]] | volume = 33 | pages = 393–408 | date = April 2012 | pmid = 22224886 | doi = 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031811-124636 | doi-access=free }}</ref>