Here is a more broad sample:
Switzerland 45.7/100
Finland 45.3
Norway 31.2
France 31.3
Iceland 30.3
Belgium 17.2
Italy 11.9
England 6.2
Looking at the violent crime rates of many of these:
Switzerland 1.1/100,000
Finland 6.6
Norway 4.6
France 4.1
Iceland almost nothing
Belgium 5.8
Italy 1.3
England 13.4
If we take out the very obvious canard of Switzerland I think you have just proven my case....
Rank by gun ownership:
Finland 45.3
Norway 31.2
France 31.3
Iceland 30.3
Belgium 17.2
Italy 11.9
England 6.2
Rank by homicide rates:
Finland 2.2
Belgium 1.7
England 1.2
France 1.1
Italy 0.9
Norway 0.6
Iceland 0.3
There is a VERY obvious pattern there, which anyone who knows the countries involved will see at once.
Firstly, the larger, more urbanised societies tend to perform worse than the more rural, farming socieities where guns are often held on farms.
Balance for population, and the lists match perfectly.
If we actually compare like-on-like bycomparing only larger, more industrialised countries - something I know many posters here absolutely refuse to do - the countries will match with 19/20 accuracy. Which is enough to be considered a statistical fact.
Yes if we take out facts, then we can make better points. I was based over in Germany for two years and visited 7 other countries while over there. I'm not Mr. Condi Nast, but I have a very good understanding of peoples and places around the world.
"Balance for population" that is my entire point. It isn't the guns, it's the people, their culture, their location and the legal environment they exist in that drives crime.
I'm not saying that guns play no part in crime, but they don't play a significant part in comparison to those 4 above factors.
As I have metioned previously in this thread, crime is lowest in the US in areas of the rural mountain West. Crime is just going to be lower when people are more spread out from one another, as opposed to be crowed together. Less chance of human interaction = less crime. In fact, if all the dangerous urban cities were taken out of the equasion, then violent crimes in the US would be just as low, on average, as most of Western Europe.
As I pointed out before, the homocide rates in states like Wyoming are around 1.4/100K---hardly different than in the safest countries on the W. European continant. Wyoming also has expontially more firearms per person than anywhere in Europe. Like many people in the "American gun culture" I've got a dozen firearms locked away in my home. Ask yourself this question: are you really going to more at risk being attacked in safe rural areas of the US and Europe that have more guns per person, or in the bad urban areas or the US and Europe like Detroit, Chicago and London that don't have as many guns per household? The "gun collector or gun nut" with a hundred guns isn't going to take his $5,000 machine gun or .50 cal target rifle and rob a convenience store with it. The gangbanger/druggie with his one chheap stolen gun is the one who will do it.
It is not a hip or sexey topic, but race and culture ARE the primary risk factors for crime around the world. The very worst areas of the world all share these common factors: Black/Hispanic enclaves living in a large urban (crowded) environment with violent gangs running unchecked by weak governments and laws with whatever weapons they can acquire. They will use handguns in Detroit, shotguns in Helsinki and machetes in Rawanda.
I'm not blind or especially dull, but I'm not seeing any good evidence crime is more influcened by guns than by demographics.