The facts show Belcher does not know what he's talking about | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    At the last County Commissioners meeting Commissioner Robert Belcher (D) made an impassion argument that firearm ownership should be restricted, in spite of the U. S. and N. C. Constitutions prohibiting such restrictions. Part of his argument was that the more firearms owned by people the higher the murder rate will be. He compared the death rate in the U. S. from firearms to that death rate of Americans in Iraq, ignoring the difference in the number of Americans in America and the number of Americans in Iraq. But never mind invalid statistics. We focused on his argument that "the more guns there are the more murders there will be." And what we learned will probably not surprise anyone other than Belcher and the other low-information Democrats who suck up the Obama-Machine's talking points. But here are the facts:

    Several reports on gun ownership around the world clearly refute the assertion that the abundance of guns in the United States leads to a high rate of firearm homicides.

    Americans are the biggest gun owners by far, with an estimated 270 million civilian firearms, in addition to those used by law enforcement and the military. That's according to the Small Arms Survey of 178 nations conducted by the Switzerland-based Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

    In sheer numbers of civilian firearms, the No. 2 nation, surprisingly, is India with 46 million, followed by China (40 million), Germany (25 million), Pakistan (18 million), and Mexico (15 million).

    The United States also leads in gun ownership rate, with about 88 firearms per 100 people, according to the most recent Small Arms Survey compiled in 2007.

    That is far ahead of No. 2 Yemen, which has 55 firearms per 100 people. Switzerland is third with 46 per 100 people, followed by Finland (45), Serbia (38), Cyprus (36), Saudi Arabia (35), and Iraq (34).

    But when it comes to the firearm homicide rate, the United States doesn't even make the top 25.

    According to figures collected by the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime through its annual crime survey, 9,146 Americans were victims of a firearm homicide in the most recent year. That translates to a rate of 2.97 firearm homicides per 100,000 population, only the 27th highest rate in the world.

    The highest rate by far can be found in Honduras, 68 homicides per 100,000, followed by El Salvador (40), Jamaica (39), Venezuela (38.9), Guatemala (34), and Colombia (27).

    For America's neighbors, the rate in Mexico is 9.9 per 100,000, and in Canada, 0.5 per 100,000.

    It is interesting to note that not only does the United States have a relatively low homicide rate compared to its gun ownership rate, but Switzerland, which ranks third in the civilian gun ownership rate, has only the 46th highest homicide rate, and Finland, with the fourth highest ownership rate, is 63rd on the list.

    "The most obnoxious liberal talking points on guns involve the idea that guns, in and of themselves, cause gun violence," writes CNS News commentator Stephen Gutowski. "In other words, more guns must mean more gun violence."

    But in light of the ownership and homicide figures, he observes: "More guns do not, in fact, mean more gun violence. Guns can be, and commonly are, used in a responsible manner, especially here in the United States."

    Click here to go to the original source.

    Having said all that, we will also say that it is not really valid to simply compare, as did Mr. Belcher, the two variables of "gun ownership" and the "murder-rate." Many other variables enter into both of these variables, chief among them being cultural differences.

    For example, America's frontier history has a demonstrable impact on the attitude Americans have about guns. Time was that our forbearers had to own guns to survive. That kind of essential cultural value gets engrained in the transmitted culture.

    But common sense would say that the greatest cultural impact comes in the arena of crime. Then we have to consider such things as the entertainment industry, drug use, economic conditions, and a culture that places a low value on life--i.e., abortion. Thus, we would challenge Mr. Belcher to refute this: The reason there are so many murders in America is that the Democrat support for abortion on demand has resulted in a society that places so little value on human life that murder is a normal response for people who don't think about what they are actually doing."

    Let's hear it Mr. Belcher. We'll provide you equal space to tell us why guns are the blame rather than your party's abortion policies. Just be sure to answer this question: Does a person have a right to choose to murder an intruder into their home like some contend a woman has a right to choose to murder an intruder into their lifestyle?

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