The disbelief and inability to understand brings to my mind the horrific Dunblane massacre (Scotland 1996) ...
Pulling together a few figures from the links that Fishonabike gave:
UK Figures - Handgun homicide figures are very low and since 1980 have fluctuated from a low of 7 in 1988, through to 35 in 1993 and a previous high of 39
in1997. So 42 gun murders in 1999 does not represent a statistically significant increase. Judging by the figures below it would be necessary to add approximately another 85 unintentional deaths to give a total of 127 for 1999
In 1999, there were 28,874 gun-related deaths in the United States - over 80 deaths every day.(Source: Hoyert DL, Arias E, Smith BL, Murphy SL, Kochanek, KD. Deaths: Final Data for 1999. National Vital Statistics Reports. 2001;49 (8).)
Gun Death - International Comparisons
Gun deaths per 100,000 population (for the year indicated):
..................Homicide.........Suicide.......Unintentional
USA---------4.08(1999)-----6.08(1999)-0.42 (1999)
Canada------0.54(1999)-----2.65(1997)-0.15 (1997)
Switzerland---0.50(1999)----5.78(1998)-
Scotland-----0.12(1999)----0.27(1999)-
England/Wales0.12(1999/00)-0.22(1999)-0.01(1999)
Japan--------0.04*(1998)---0.04(1995)-<0.01(1997)
(dates in brackets relate to the most recent figures, sorry about wiggly lines - the edit screen is not WYSIWYG)
Whilst outrangeous behaviour by a crazed individual seems to happen with increasing regularity all over the world now and appears to be virtaully unstoppable, I can only hope that one day the link between gun deaths and gun ownership will be recognised even by responsible gun owners who never use their guns in anger.
