International Comparisons
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67
68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84
85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101
102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115
Table 3-1 displays the data on homicides, firearm-related homicides,
and firearm availability for 36 countries. Krug et al. (1998) collected these
data by surveying ministries of health or national statistical centers in each
of these countries. Review of these data indicate that while the United
States does not have the highest rate of homicide or firearm-related homicide,
it does have the highest rates for these among industrialized democracies.
Homicide rates in the United States are two to four times higher than
they are in countries that are economically and politically similar to it.
Higher rates are found in developing countries and those with political
instability. The same is true for firearm-related homicides, but the differences
are even greater. The firearm-related homicide rate in the United
States is more like that of Argentina, Mexico, and Northern Ireland than
England or Canada. While certainly not the highest homicide or firearmrelated
homicide rate in the world, these rates in the United States are in the
upper quartile in each case.
Some researchers have used data like those summarized above to
assess the relationship between firearm-related homicides and firearms
availability. For the most part this research focuses on industrialized
nations and uses various proxies for the measure of firearms availability.
While the vast majority of these studies conclude that homicides
and availability are closely associated (Lester, 1990; Killias, 1993a,
1993b; Hemenway and Miller, 2000), the methodological problems in
this research (measurement of key variables is of questionable validity,
the use of nation-states as the unit of analysis may mask subnational
variability, and models tested are poorly specified) do not encourage
us to place much weight on this research. However, as noted earlier,
the level of nongun homicide is much higher in the United States than
it is in other countries. A high level of violence may be a cause of a
high level of firearms availability instead of the other way around.
Further work with better measures and more complete samples might
be useful; for now this literature can be considered suggestive but not
conclusive.
TABLE 3-1 International Firearms Homicide and Suicide Rates
Total Firearm Total Firearm Percentage
Homicides Homicides Suicides Suicides Households
(per (per (per (per with
Country Year 100,000) 100,000) 100,000) 100,000) Firearms
Estonia 1994 28.21 8.07 40.95 3.13 9 (UN)
Brazil 1993 19.04 10.58 3.46 .73 4.35 (UN)
Mexico 1994 17.58 9.88 2.89 .91 N/A
United 1993 9.93 7.07 12.06 6.3 39
States
Northern 1994 6.09 5.24 8.41 1.34 8.4 (1989)
Ireland
Argentina 1994 4.51 2.11 6.71 2.89 3
Hungary 1994 3.53 .23 35.38 .88 N/A
Finland 1994 3.24 .86 27.26 5.78 25.2 (1992)
Portugal 1994 2.98 1.28 14.83 1.28 N/A
Mauritius 1993 2.35 .00 12.98 .09 N/A
Israel 1993 2.32 .72 7.05 1.84 N/A
Italy 1992 2.25 1.66 12.65 1.11 16
Scotland 1994 2.24 .19 12.16 .33 4.7 (1989)
Canada 1992 2.16 .76 13.19 3.72 24.2 (1992)
Slovenia 1994 2.01 .35 31.16 2.51 N/A
Australia 1994 1.79 .44 12.65 2.35 15.1 (1992)
Taiwan 1994 1.78 .15 6.88 .12 N/A
South Korea 1994 1.62 .04 9.48 .02 N/A
New Zealand 1993 1.47 .17 12.81 2.14 22.3 (1992)
Belgium 1990 1.41 .60 19.04 2.56 16.5 (1992)
Switzerland 1994 1.32 .58 21.28 5.61 27.2 (1989)
Sweden 1993 1.30 .18 15.75 2.09 15.1 (1992)
Hong Kong 1993 1.23 .12 10.29 .07 N/A
Denmark 1993 1.21 .23 22.33 2.25 N/A
Austria 1994 1.17 .42 12.12 4.06 18-20
(1996)
Germany 1994 1.17 .22 15.64 1.17 8.9 (1989)
Singapore 1994 1.17 .07 14.06 .17 N/A
Greece 1994 1.14 .59 3.4 .84 .03 (UN)
France 1994 1.12 .44 20.79 5.14 22.6 (1989)
Netherlands 1994 1.11 .36 10.03 .31 1.9 (1992)
Kuwait 1995 1.01 .36 1.66 .06 N/A
Norway 1993 .97 .30 13.64 3.95 32. (1989)
Spain 1993 .95 .21 7.77 .43 13.1 (1989)
Ireland 1991 .62 .03 9.81 .94 N/A
Japan 1994 .62 .02 16.72 .04 .57 (UN)
England and 1992 .55 .07 7.68 .33 4.4
Wales
SOURCES: Krug et al. (1998); United Nations (2000).