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Last week's (European edition of) Newsweek had a lot about the US
relationship with the gun and the inevitable reactions to the recent very
public shootings. Most Europeans don't understand the ongoing arguments on
this issue; they generally say make casual gun ownership illegal and be done
with it. To some extent Europeans see the Constitutional Amendment's point
in terms of "well-regulated militia", and feel the individual Americans
misinterpret the "right to bear arms". Some countries such as Switzerland
have a similar model of armed citizenry as a potential militia, with considerable
firepower in the homes, albeit carefully locked up. As a rule however, Europeans
do not have the right to bear arms, except under special dispensation or
in "hunting and sport" situations.
This does not keep criminals from being armed, sometimes excessively so,
and illegal arms traffic and theft apparently keep them all well armed. We
regularly hear about containers of weapons being stolen (originally destined
where I wonder), and military stores being looted. It does however mean that
"casual homicide" involves less gunfire than in the US, for the simple reason
that people use whatever is closest at hand and this is more likely here
to be "other tools". On the other hand, most serious/psychopathic shootings
anywhere occur with weapons that are illegal to import or possess, even in
the US. So clearly regulation or not is not the real issue.
Murderous rage is murderous rage, and psychopath is psychopath,
whatever the cultural context. To the victims it does not really matter whether
they get shot, stabbed, bludgeoned to death, or just run over by their aggressor,
except insofar as one or another weapon may be more or less lethal. And while
much is made of e.g. the factor 20 more homicides with guns in the US than
in the UK, as adjusted by population, one rarely sees the total homicide
figures or the level of premeditated gruesomeness compared.
Clearly, with many loaded guns in easy reach, it is easier to shoot on impulse
or by accident. But even in Sweden, by consensus regarded as a "gun-free"
society, we have many gun-related cases: gang shootouts, random shootings,
murders and assassinations (including our PM at one time), and weird cases
like the lady who for unknown reasons walked into a gun club's range and
cold-bloodedly executed several members who were practicing. As for that
purportedly gun-free UK situation, this summer a popular BBC travel show
host was shot in the head outside her own home, reasons unknown.
I did find two interesting statistics buried in all the US debate:
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Despite the perceived increased violence due to the much publicised shootings
of late, the actual level of violence in US schools has been steadily dropping
since the early 90s and is this year lower than ever.
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The number of US adults behind bars or under police supervision last year
reached a record 5.9 million offenders, almost 3 percent of the adult population,
the Justice Department reported Sunday.
The first suggest that the overall picture is not as bleak as the year's
televised school incidents would have one believe.
The second can be interpreted in several ways, because the range of "offenders"
is both broad and vague. Still, it does suggest that current "crime prevention"
efforts are not very productive.
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