The U.S. Has More Guns, But Russia Has More Murders

9/21/13
 
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from NPR,
9/21/13:

According to GunPolicy.org, Russians have far fewer guns than Americans — and far more homicides.

There are fewer than 13 million firearms in circulation in Russia, compared with an estimated 300 million in the United States. That works out to about 9 guns per 100 people in Russia and closed to 100 guns per 100 people in America.

The most recent homicide statistics for Russia show that there were 21,603 killings in 2009.

According to the FBI, the United States had 13,636 homicides in 2009 with a population that is more than twice as large. More than 80 percent of those killings were gun-related.

It’s difficult to make a direct comparison of gun homicides in the two countries because Russia doesn’t break down its murder statistics.

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