Molon Labe!
Posted on 07/08/2003 10:42:28 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker
New York (dpa) - A study released Tuesday on legal gun ownership
worldwide shows the United States - not surprisingly - leads the
world, but it also shows that Europeans own a high number of firearms.
The number of guns owned by civilians in the United States is
between 238 million and 276 million, making country of 268 million
people the most armed in the world, the study by the Graduate
Institute of International Studies in Geneva said.
But it also said the 15 European Union nations, with more than 300
million people, have a total of 84 million firearms, with Finland
leading in per capita gun ownership.
The study was presented to a 156-nation conference at U.N.
headquarters on progress made in banning the illicit trade of small
and light weapons around the world, which killed an estimated 500,000
people a year. Those weapons are military sidearms, assault rifles,
rifles, sub-machine and machine guns and grenade launchers.
The Swiss study focused on legal gun ownership among ordinary
citizens, excluding military personnel and police officers. It said
what the study revealed about Europe debunked the belief that
Europeans are disarmed and do not privately hold a large stock of
guns.
It said 80 per cent of the estimated 84 million firearms in Europe
are in civilian hands, with Finland leading with 39 guns for every 100
citizens, followed by Norway with 36 guns, Sweden with 24 guns and
Denmark with 18 guns.
But the United States, which the study estimates has between 83 and
96 guns for every 100 people, still has far more guns per person than
Europe, where the survey estimates there are 17.4 guns for every 100
people.
The study said Americans are most armed in the world, followed by
Finns and Yememis.
The National Rifle Association, the leading U.S. group representing
gun owners, says there are more than 200 million privately owned
firearms in the United States. These guns are owned by about 60
million people, NRA statistics posted at the 4-million-member
organization's website say.
The Swiss group was among the nongovernmental organizations that
were taking part in the conference to review implementation of the
2-year-old U.N. agreement to ban the illegal trade of small and light
weapons. There are an estimated 600 million such weapons around the
world, both legally and illegally owned.
The U.N. has denounced the lucrative illegal trade of small arms
for fueling civil wars, threatening peace efforts and development
projects in poor countries.
When the week-long conference opened Monday, the research group,
the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), said little
progress had been made to implement the ban. It said only 37 of the
156 governments have set up national committees in the past two years
to coordinate action against small arms, and 56 have submitted
progress reports to the U.N. on implementing the ban.
Progress has been ''particularly slow'' in countries in North
Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia, it said.
Molon Labe!
And the Swiss have closed the "gun-show loophole"
Subsequent transfers either by sale or by another transaction among private individuals have to be documented through a written contract between those individuals themselves, which they have to keep for at least ten years.
Who needs the BATF?
Hey, I was just reporting what I had heard the average was...my household definitely raises the average, and I have every intention of continuing to raise the average over time.
ChefKeith...17.4 per adult! With 14 million adults, this is 243,600,000 guns here. We're well-armed, and surely some people think that 17 per person is a bare minimum, but WOW! :>)
Canada delenda est!
Subsequent transfers either by sale or by another transaction among private individuals have to be documented through a written contract between those individuals themselves, which they have to keep for at least ten years.
Who needs the BATF?
It's not as bad as that. IF the contract stays with the individual selling or transfering the weapon. So there is no government record or even the possibility of one. It's probably a good idea in fact. If the gun is subsequently misused, the seller is covered, and the buyer is covered because the seller can't claim it was stolen. Contracts are not neccessarily a bad thing.
Where is the "conversion" to semi-auto written? Seems kind of dumb. However, it's too bad we can't get the BATFE and DCM/Army to allow something like that for all the M-14s sitting around waiting to be torched.
1. That's because we have the most to lose.
2. That's because we have what everybody else wants.
3. That's because we have the most dangerous criminals. And some are not even elected.
4. That's because there are a lot of tasty things running around in our forests and prairies.
5. That is so we can make the world a better place for all the idiots that cannot or will not defend themselves.
And a few other lesser reasons.
Unless of course one is foolish enough to live in Washington, D.C. But otherwise, the point is well-taken.
I wasn't critical of the Swiss system. It's actually quite good. Both gun-dealers and private sellers have to keep a paper record of sales, but no info needs to be sent to the Feds. In the event of later misuse, the info is available, but if there is no misuse, the central goverment is totally out of the picture.
Yes, we are No.1 and we have enough to go around.
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