Lithuania
The law permits the storage and carrying of firearms, including rifled weapons. After allowing the carrying and storage of civilian rifles, a significant decline in serious crimes was recorded. (8)
Mexico
Art. 10 of the Mexican Constitution gives the right to citizens of the country to have weapons for their own defense and to protect their property. In 2004, in addition to the Constitution, a law was passed that allowed Mexicans to keep at home no more than two pistols in caliber to 3.8 mm, and also to carry these weapons outside the house, including in public places. (13)
Moldova
After the citizens in Moldova were allowed to have pistols and revolvers, the crime rate almost halved. (12)
As of 2003, Moldovan citizens have 6000 firearms on their hands. Every year more than 800 pistols and revolvers are purchased. With each purchase, of course, the tax is paid. (14)
Norway
Residents of Norway can acquire virtually any weapon. More than a third of the countrys inhabitants are armed. To purchase weapons you need to get a license and justify the need to purchase. After that, a biographical check and training at the qualification courses are conducted.
However, concealed or free carrying of weapons is prohibited. And as a result Breiviks crime. Citizens did not have weapons, but the criminal had.
Russia
In Russia, in the hands of people, there are more than five million hunting rifles. In percent this is very small. 34%. The percentage of criminal use of legal gunshot hunting weapons is a percentage share. (15)
At one of the briefings, the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of St. Petersburg informed that there are only 2 cases of illegal use of them per year for 16 thousand legal hunting trunks. (12) In total, in Russia, legal weapons are used in crimes against the individual about 510 times a year.
In tsarist Russia, weapons were sold freely. The Nagan or the Browning cost 1620 rubles half of the average workers salary.
In the USSR, weapons were banned, and the total ban on weapons left in Russia since the days of the Soviet government does not lead to a decrease, but to an increase in crime. The criminal world is actively arming.
According to official data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. As of December 1, 2004, 178,344 pieces of firearms and military equipment were stolen by criminals (or somehow lost) by the countrys law enforcement agencies, including 66,679 pieces of rifled weapons, of which 23,451 assault rifles, 25,916 pistols, 1,927 machine guns, 2,661 grenade launchers and 71 portable missile launchers. Of course, these weapons are now for criminals, and not for law-abiding citizens. (16, 17)
The state, complicating the legal circulation of weapons, facilitates the actions of bandits. Only 13% of the victims are resisting the attackers and only half the time successfully. (8)
USA
Thanks to the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees every citizen the right to own and bear arms, US citizens are fully able to protect their lives and health. Approximately 43% of American households have firearms. This is about 90 million armed citizens. They say that Abraham Lincoln gave people freedom, and Colonel Colt called their chances.
Specific conditions are regulated at the regional level. For example, in California, you can buy no more than one barrel in 30 days. In 30 states, weapons can be worn openly, in 14 it requires prior authorization, and only in 6 states it is forbidden to openly carry firearms. The concealed carrying of weapons is permitted in all states except Illinois.
Of course, the media is constantly showing data about shooting in the US. One of the reasons for this is that most of these media are also American or broadcast news from the US. For the US press generally watches very closely, where more closely than the news from Colombia, for example. On the other hand, the USA objectively produces a large percentage of world news. Much larger than, for example, the countries of Africa or South America. However, if you count the number of weapons in the hands of people, the number of inhabitants and the percentage of criminal use of weapons, you will get a completely different picture.
Professor David Mastard published in the Journal of Law and Economics the results of a study according to which in states where citizens are allowed to carry weapons, the number of police murders is reduced by two percent every year. (7)
According to the University of Chicago, in states where concealed weapons are allowed, the total crime rate is less than in the forbidding states, by 22%, the level of murders by 33%, robberies by 37%, grievous bodily harms by 14%. (15)
In those states of America where secretly carrying weapons are allowed, citizens kill twice as many criminals as policemen. Thus, it can be stated that if citizens did not have weapons, it was for them, and not for criminals, that this part of the criminal meetings would end with death or other losses.
In those states of America where citizens are allowed to covertly carry weapons, the overall level of violent crime is lower by 18% than in Illinois, where wearing is prohibited.
In Illinois, where weapons are prohibited, 289.7 murders per 100 000 population are committed. In states where concealed weapons are allowed, 183.1 killings per 100 000 population.
In the state of Florida after 1987, after permission to purchase weapons, crime fell by 21%.
In Washington, the capital of the United States, in 1976, the authorities banned the possession of pistols and revolvers. As a result, crime has tripled.
From 1973 to 1992, the number of trunks of US citizens increased by 73% from 122 to 222 million units! The number of murders during the same years decreased by 10%.
The most stringent laws concerning the possession and carrying of weapons exist in the cities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington. In these cities, only 5% of the US population live together. But it is in these cities, where it is more difficult for citizens to protect themselves, 15% of all murders in the country are committed. (12)
The Town Hall of the small town of Kennesaw, Georgia, in 1983, required residents to have at least one unit of firearms per house. For 16 years of application of this act in the city there were only three murders, two of which with the help of a knife (1984 and 1987). And then, despite the fact that the population of the town for fourteen years has grown 4 times!
The total number of crimes against the person in Kennesaw within a year after the adoption of the law was reduced by 74%, and a year later by another 45%. That is, only one realization that any person in the city can be armed, led to a significant reduction in crime.
The example of Kennesaw proves that the presence of firearms among citizens increases the level of public order and security. And reduces, accordingly, the cost of security, reduces the burden on the budget and the police.
The second amendment to the US Constitution reads: the right of people to store and carry weapons should not be infringed. This right is used by 7 out of 10 adult Americans.
In the hands of a criminal, weapons are evil. In the hands of the criminal and the scalpel is evil. In the hands of the doctor, the same scalpel is good. The ax in the hands of the forester is good. In the hands of the criminal is evil. The knife in the hands of the cook is good, in the hands of the bandit is evil.
The population of the USA more than twice exceeds the population of Russia. In the US, weapons are allowed. In Russia it is forbidden. At the same time, according to data for 1993, there were 23 thousand murders in the United States, in Russia 29 thousand. Those. in terms of the percentage of the population, in a country where weapons are prohibited to citizens, they kill twice as much as in the country where the weapon is legalized. Even policemen in the United States, despite a huge number of weapons from residents, are killed half as often as in Russia.
In the US, according to data for 2016, with all the abundance of weapons in the hands of people, the number of murders was less than 5 per 100,000 a year. In Russia, despite the ban, this indicator is almost twice as high more than 9 people per 100 000 population. (132)
Official statistics of developed countries constantly notes the increase in the level of murders, with the toughening of the right to carry and store weapons. (8)
Observations confirm the rule. From country to country, from example to example, the same picture repeats itself almost mathematically. There are more weapons among citizens there are fewer crimes and murders.
Why, when speaking about the right of citizens to life and health, and the connection of this right with the economy, it is necessary to remember criminal statistics? Not only because this is the main argument of opponents of free possession of weapons, but also because the right to life and health of one person is limited by the right to life and health of another person. And, as can be seen from the examples given, the total number of saved lives and health with free possession of weapons is greater than with prohibitions on weapons. From figure to figure, from country to country, from state to state.
As for the economy, then its even simpler. The more weapons sold legally, the more taxes paid, the more jobs created, the more taxpayers saved their lives and health.
If the US sold 150 million weapons, and in Russia only 5 million, how much more taxes went to the treasury of the United States? And how much more shops, shooting galleries, repair shops, shooting clubs opened? How much more jobs did you have? How much more people were able to get a job and legally improve their financial situation?
It is also important to note the fact that the total number of crimes involving weapons constitutes a rather small percentage of all deaths caused not by illness or by age. Much smaller than the volume of battles over the ban on possession of weapons.
So in 2001 in the United States in an accident killed 42,900 people. But cars are not banned.
From poisoning killed 14,500 people, and from a fall from a height of 14,200, which did not lead to a ban on the construction of skyscrapers.
From accidents due to strangulation (choked with food, etc.), 4200 died, but this did not entail the general closure of restaurants and cafes.
From fire and other sources of fire and smoke, 3900 people died, but matches and lighters can still be bought in any supermarket.
From the firearms for the same period of time, 800 people died. This is only 1% (one percent!) Of deaths from the above set of causes. (18)
As Stephen Levitt writes Given the number of pistols in the hands of the US population and the annual number of murders, the probability of using a single pistol to commit a murder is one to ten thousand. The risk of losing your life by drowning in the pool is higher than the risk of dying from a bullet. (136)
If we summarize the data of the FBI, police and scientists, it turns out that increasing the number of weapons in the hands of the population leads to a reduction in the number of its use. Not even murders or injuries. Just shoot less.
At the same time, the number of murders also decreases. On average, by 8% per year, rape by 5%, robbery by 7%.
Owners of firearms are much less likely to be victims of robbers. In this case, the use of firearms as a means of self-defense rarely ends in blood. Only in 1% of cases the offender is wounded and in the tenth of a percent of cases he is killed. That is enough of a threat and a shot in the air to prevent a crime in 99% of cases before the appearance of the police.
It was also noted that if the law allows only to keep weapons at home, then street crime sharply increases, especially with regard to pensioners and young women. But as soon as the law allows not only the storage, but also the carrying of weapons street crime is sharply reduced. (18)
So the laws of Oklahoma, which allowed homeowners to use force no matter how small the threat, reduced the number of robberies by almost half. (9) It is important to note that the number of robberies fell not from the increase in pistols in homes, but only from permission to shoot at the slightest threat to property or health. It is entirely permissible to assume that politeness in Oklahoma has also increased, and the number of abuse and threats has decreased.
In 2007, 5% of the worlds population lived in the United States. And these people owned half of all weapons on Earth. (3, 19) At the same time, two-thirds of the firearms in the US are in the hands of civilians. The police and the army are in a clear minority one third.
If you follow the logic of the opponents of weapons for citizens, then such a powder barrel should have exploded long ago. But this does not happen. And as shown above, only according to official statistics, the US is safer for the inhabitants of the country than, for example, Russia in two to four times. Accent. If you compare the official statistics.
When it comes to the right to life of an individual, the right to own weapons for self-defense is obviously immutable. And the big figures prove that this is not only logical, but also safe and economically justified.
In the United States, approximately 100,000 firearms are registered each year for self-defense. Those. 100,000 times the right to arms helped to prevent crime. 100 thousand crimes against the life, health and property of taxpayers were prevented before the arrival of the police. This, of course, led to budget savings, as the police did not have to investigate 100,000 murders, robberies and rapes. This led to the receipt of taxes on the sale and maintenance of 100 thousand weapons and ammunition to them. This led to a decrease in the total number of crimes in the last decade of the last century by 3040%.
Thus, the right to life and health of taxpayers is now more secure than, for example, in the 80th year. (3, 20)
According to the FBI, the death of the criminal ended in 20052010, only 213 crimes per year. Those. To scare off a gun is not at all what to wound or kill. Scared off 100 thousand times. Only 213 were killed. (21)
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, along with Switzerland and Estonia, is one of the most armed countries in Europe, if counted by the number of trunks in the population. In the Czech Republic you can not only buy weapons, without explaining the reason for the purchase, but also covertly to wear. Not by chance, therefore, the Czech Republic is one of the safest European countries.
In addition to reducing the level of crime, the right to arms in the Czech Republic led to the development of an entire industry. And today, shooting is almost as popular as football or hockey. This is not so widely known fact, but more important is another. Hardly an unbiased reader, it is unlikely that a critic of the right to bear arms will be able to recall at least one instance of the use of weapons in this country, which led to the tragedy. After all, tragedies, such as shootings in US schools or Breiviks crime, are led by opponents of weapons as the main argument for the ban.