Numbers don’t usually speak for themselves — but these come close:
| United States | United Kingdom | Ratio (US:UK) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 319 million | 64 million | 4.98:1 |
| Gun deaths (2011) | 32,1631 | 1462 | 220.29:1 |
| Gun homicides (2011) | 8,8553 | 384 | 233.03:1 |
| Rate of gun deaths per 100,000 (2011) | 10.35 | .236 | 43.61:1 |
| Law enforcement officers feloniously killed (2012) | 487 | 08 | ∞ |
| Killings by police (2012) | 4009 – 1,00010 | 111 | 400:1 – 1000:1 |
- http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states ↩︎
- http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-kingdom ↩︎
- http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/ ↩︎
- http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-kingdom ↩︎
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Some things are striking:
- The difference between the number of gun deaths of all kinds in the U.S. and the number of gun deaths of all kinds in the U.K.; the U.S. is clearly an extremely violent society
- The difference between the number of people killed by the police in those two countries.
- The ratio between people killed by police and police feloniously killed — the ratio is somewhere between 8 : 1 and 20 : 1.
- Americans are violent; Americans kill themselves and each other with guns; and American police kill frequently.
We need a cultural shift: away from guns and gun violence, away from hyper-militarized police.
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