According to Statista.com, gun shops in the United States outnumber supermarkets, fast food restaurants, and coffee shops.
With a total of 51,438 outlets as of 2012, the number of gun shops in the U.S. is larger than the number of stores of Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Subway combined (a total of 50,439 stores).
Chicago is the only city in the United States with tough gun control laws. Gun shops are prohibited, and so are shootings ranges. It is illegal for private citizens to carry guns in public places. Despite this fact, Chicago has experienced a high number of gun-related deaths, 500 homicides in 2012 and so far 40 in the first month of 2013.
Guns recovered by the Chicago police in the last twelve years came mainly from the within the state of Illinois, followed by the states of Indiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. Overall, the provenance of guns confiscated in Chicago pointed to all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Guam.
Resource: The New York Times: Where 50,000 Guns Recovered in Chicago Came From
While the debate goes on in Congress regarding gun control, it is interesting to see that many members of Congress that will be voting on the issue, received donations from no other than the National Rifle Association (NRA). On the graphic above, compiled by the Washington Post, we can see that the party that benefited the most from NRA donations in 2012 was the Republican party.
Recipients of NRA donations are selected by the NRA based on a grading system that includes how a particular Congress member supported the NRA on gun issues in the past.
For the interactive graphic that allows you to check for names of candidates that received financial contributions by the NRA visit: The Washington Post: How the NRA exerts influence over Congress
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Using data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on homicides by firearms worldwide, we can see that the United States has the highest average of gun ownership, 88.8 per 100 people. The U.S. is followed by Yemen with 54.8 average per 100 people, Switzerland with 45.7, and Finland with 45.3 average per 100 people. Although, these countries rate at the top in gun ownership, their numbers are much lower compared to the U.S.
According to this data, countries with the lowest gun ownership include: Tunisia, East Timor, Ethiopia, Ghana, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Fiji, among others.
For more information visit:
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According to data from The Violence and Policy Center, the death rate by firearms in the U.S. is 10.19 per 100,000 people. Data from Gallup puts gun ownership at 34% nationwide. States with higher percentage of gun ownership also show a high number of deaths by firearms. Louisiana ranks 1 in number of deaths by firearms at 18.03 per 100,000, and 13 in gun ownership at 45.6%. Wyoming ranks 2 in number of deaths by firearms at 17.64 per 100,000, and 2 in gun ownership at 62.8%. These states are followed by Montana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Nevada, Tennessee and Alaska. In comparison, Massachusetts ranks 50 in number of deaths by firearms at 3.14 per 100,000 (lowest of all fifty states), and 48 in gun ownership at 12.8%. Hawaii fares well, ranking 49 in number of deaths by firearms, and 50 in gun ownership at 9.7% (the lowest of all fifty states).
See interactive map at: Aljazeera.com – Interactive: US, Yemen lead the world in guns