History of gun culture in America | Gun culture in the United States

History of gun culture in America | Gun culture in the United States.

There has been another mass shooting in the United States of America. 17 people have been killed at a high school campus Parkland, Florida. It is the deadliest school shooting since 26 people were killed at Connecticut school Sandy Hook in 2012.

The attack at the Marjory Stone man Douglas High School is the sixth school shooting incident this year so far that has either wounded or killed students.

Last year, an attack on a concert in Las Vegas left 58 dead, the worst mass shooting in the US, and again raised questions about gun ownership and whether there should be tougher controls.

The number of firearms available to American civilians is estimated at around 310 million, according to a 2009 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) report.

India is home to the second-largest civilian firearm stockpile, estimated at 46 million.

According to the Small Arms Survey, the exact number of civilian-owned firearms is impossible to pinpoint because of a variety of factors including arms that go unregistered, the illegal trade and global conflict.

How does the US compare with other countries?

About 40% of Americans say they own a gun or live in a household with one, according to a 2017 survey, and the rate of murder or manslaughter by firearm is the highest in the developed world. There were more than 11,000 deaths as a result of murder or manslaughter involving a firearm in 2016.

That was the number of guns in the United States in 2013, according to a Washington Post review of data from the Congressional Research Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. At the time that figure was determined, there were only 317 million people living in the United States – meaning the country had roughly 40 million more firearms than residents.

The most updated estimates -- now more than a decade old -- place the worldwide civilian

gun cache at around 650 million. According to Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, the number of civilian guns has most likely risen since 2007. Firearm production continues to proliferate worldwide, outweighing the effects that gun destruction might have.

How do US gun deaths break down?

According to investigative magazine Mother Jones., There have been more than 90 mass shootings in the US since 1982, until 2012, a mass shooting was defined as when an attacker had killed four or more victims in an indiscriminate rampage - and since 2013 the figures include attacks with three or more victims. The shootings do not include killings related to other crimes such as gang violence armed, robbery.

The overall number of people killed in mass shootings each year represents only a tiny percentage of the total number.

The frequency of this kind of event - it is the 18th school shooting in the US in 2018 - risks anaesthetizing us to the number of people who die from shootings in one of the worlds most developed nations.

Attacks in US become deadlier

The Las Vegas attack was the worst in recent United States history - and the three shootings with the highest number of casualties have all happened within the past 10 years.

The Parkland, Florida, attack is the worst school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012.

The US has one of the highest rates of death by firearm in the developed world, according to World Health Organization data.

Our calculations based on OECD data from 2010 show that Americans are 51 times more likely to be killed by gunfire than people in the United Kingdom.

Opinion: Americas unyielding plague of gun violence

Most American gun owners (two-thirds) say a major reason they own a gun is for their personal protection, according to the Pew study. However, the majority of Americas firearm-related deaths are attributed to self-harm.

Gun-related suicides are eight times higher in the US than in other high-income nations.