would you support a constitutional amendment to ban handguns?

[David S]

Guns are a serious threat to human life and should be treated as such.

Yet, with millions of handguns, the total deaths by firearm number roughly 30,000 a year, half of which are suicides which I don't think you can really blame the gun for.

Speaking of suicide, in Japan the suicide rate is more than double what it is here. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/
In fact their combined rate of suicide and homicide is also higher than ours. In Japan handguns are outlawed and that fact is frequently cited as the reason for Japan's low homicide rate. So how come they have such a high suicide rate?

[John Dibble]

Speaking of suicide, in Japan the suicide rate is more than double what it is here. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/
In fact their combined rate of suicide and homicide is also higher than ours. In Japan handguns are outlawed and that fact is frequently cited as the reason for Japan's low homicide rate. So how come they have such a high suicide rate?

Cultural differences, one of the many reasons why it's very difficult to make valid comparisons internationally when it comes to guns and various other issues.

[Hatman 🍁]

Canada banned handguns over 80 years ago, so according to Everett we must all be idiots

[John Dibble]

Canada banned handguns over 80 years ago, so according to Everett we must all be idiots

Well duh, you are Canadians after all.

[Hatman 🍁]

Canada banned handguns over 80 years ago, so according to Everett we must all be idiots

Well duh, you are Canadians after all.

Clearly. Also, according to Straha, we all have Down's Syndrome!

[MODU]

Canada banned handguns over 80 years ago, so according to Everett we must all be idiots

Well duh, you are Canadians after all.

Clearly. Also, according to Straha, we all have Down's Syndrome!

All your Canadians are belong to us!

[Platypus]

In the US-maybe. In Australia-no. We've already banned them, more or less, and guns shouldn't be in the constitution, in a supportive or non-supportive way.

I support repealing the second amendment in the states, for sure. Then, each state should ban them. But gun ownership, just like gay marriage, isn't/shouldn't be a constitutional issue.

[David S]

Speaking of suicide, in Japan the suicide rate is more than double what it is here. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/
In fact their combined rate of suicide and homicide is also higher than ours. In Japan handguns are outlawed and that fact is frequently cited as the reason for Japan's low homicide rate. So how come they have such a high suicide rate?

Cultural differences, one of the many reasons why it's very difficult to make valid comparisons internationally when it comes to guns and various other issues.

Well I'm tempted to say the Japanese are committing suicide because they are so depressed over the lack of guns. But actually I think your assessment is exactly correct, cultural differences. But no one ever considers that as a possible explanation for their low murder rate.

[Alcon]

Speaking of suicide, in Japan the suicide rate is more than double what it is here. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/
In fact their combined rate of suicide and homicide is also higher than ours. In Japan handguns are outlawed and that fact is frequently cited as the reason for Japan's low homicide rate. So how come they have such a high suicide rate?

Cultural differences, one of the many reasons why it's very difficult to make valid comparisons internationally when it comes to guns and various other issues.

Well I'm tempted to say the Japanese are committing suicide because they are so depressed over the lack of guns. But actually I think your assessment is exactly correct, cultural differences. But no one ever considers that as a possible explanation for their low murder rate.

I think Japan has a higher suicide rate for two reasons:

1. Their culture is one which emphasises that personal faults affect your family and dishonour them.
2. They are Buddhist.

I doubt it has anything to do with guns.

[Gabu]

Speaking of suicide, in Japan the suicide rate is more than double what it is here. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/
In fact their combined rate of suicide and homicide is also higher than ours. In Japan handguns are outlawed and that fact is frequently cited as the reason for Japan's low homicide rate. So how come they have such a high suicide rate?

Cultural differences, one of the many reasons why it's very difficult to make valid comparisons internationally when it comes to guns and various other issues.

Well I'm tempted to say the Japanese are committing suicide because they are so depressed over the lack of guns. But actually I think your assessment is exactly correct, cultural differences. But no one ever considers that as a possible explanation for their low murder rate.

Canada a murder rate per capita that is almost a third of America's, and I don't particularly see all that many cultural differences between those two countries.

A random fact that I noticed while thinking about the suicide rates mentioned is that Canada has slightly higher suicide rates than America in every age group except those above age 65, at which point American suicide rates go way up, easily passing Canada's rates.  I don't really know how to explain that one.

Also, another interesting fact is that Americans are subject to 68% more burglaries per capita than Canadians, but 78% of Americans feel that they are not at a high risk of burglary, compared to only 66% of Canadians who feel the same way.  I guess this goes to show that guns make people think they're safer...

[KEmperor]

No (not walter mitty)

im just fed up with picking up the paper every day and reading about another young person shot.

Obviously this is a literacy issue, not a gun control issue.

[John Dibble]

Canada a murder rate per capita that is almost a third of America's, and I don't particularly see all that many cultural differences between those two countries.

This is why I said cultural differences were 'one of many' reasons that international comparisons are different. Let me tell you an interesting fact - when ice cream sales go up, the murder rate also tends to go up. Obviously, this is a correlation and not a causation. The real cause for both going up at once is a rise in temperature. When it's hot, people tend to go out more, interact with more people, and also many people get irritable aggressive in hot weather, so you end up with better conditions for murder. Canada is further north and cooler than the US on average, so this can partially explain the difference in murder rates. Of course this doesn't fully explain it, but there are other differences.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I can offer a partial explanation - suicide is generally higher in most areas in winter. Why is this? I can't give an exact explanation, but it has to do with the fact that it's darker in winter for longer periods of time. Since Canada is further north, it has longer winters, so higher suicide rates are higher. It's due to something called winter depression, or seasonal affective disorder in more technical terms.

As for the after 65 part, I don't know. Might be worth looking into.

[NewFederalist]

I think Japan has a higher suicide rate for two reasons:

1. Their culture is one which emphasises that personal faults affect your family and dishonour them.
2. They are Buddhist.

I doubt it has anything to do with guns.

I do not think they would like being called Buddhists. That is a largely Chinese religion. In Japan it is Shinto.

[John Dibble]

I think Japan has a higher suicide rate for two reasons:

1. Their culture is one which emphasises that personal faults affect your family and dishonour them.
2. They are Buddhist.

I doubt it has anything to do with guns.

I do not think they would like being called Buddhists. That is a largely Chinese religion. In Japan it is Shinto.

Shinto originated from Japan, but Buddhism is also big. In truth, most Japanese identify themselves with both religions. The Japanese tend to incorporate many things from many different religions into their lives.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Speaking of suicide, in Japan the suicide rate is more than double what it is here. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/
In fact their combined rate of suicide and homicide is also higher than ours. In Japan handguns are outlawed and that fact is frequently cited as the reason for Japan's low homicide rate. So how come they have such a high suicide rate?

Cultural differences, one of the many reasons why it's very difficult to make valid comparisons internationally when it comes to guns and various other issues.

Well I'm tempted to say the Japanese are committing suicide because they are so depressed over the lack of guns. But actually I think your assessment is exactly correct, cultural differences. But no one ever considers that as a possible explanation for their low murder rate.

Canada a murder rate per capita that is almost a third of America's, and I don't particularly see all that many cultural differences between those two countries.

A random fact that I noticed while thinking about the suicide rates mentioned is that Canada has slightly higher suicide rates than America in every age group except those above age 65, at which point American suicide rates go way up, easily passing Canada's rates.  I don't really know how to explain that one.

Also, another interesting fact is that Americans are subject to 68% more burglaries per capita than Canadians, but 78% of Americans feel that they are not at a high risk of burglary, compared to only 66% of Canadians who feel the same way.  I guess this goes to show that guns make people think they're safer...

You really must be ignorant.

Sometime look at the murder rate among the various racial groups in the United States, then use the racial percentages of Canada.  If the United States had the same racial percentages as Canada, we would have a murder rate of about the same (look at the murder rates in the Dakotas for example)

[MAS117]

no

[??????????]

Canada has a much lower population then the US to begin with, Gabu.

[Nym90]

Canada has a much lower population then the US to begin with, Gabu.

He's referring to murder rate per capita, which takes into consideration the population difference.

[Alcon]

You really must be ignorant.

Sometime look at the murder rate among the various racial groups in the United States, then use the racial percentages of Canada.  If the United States had the same racial percentages as Canada, we would have a murder rate of about the same (look at the murder rates in the Dakotas for example)

Are you saying that Hispanics inherently are more violent, or that immigrants in general tend to be more violent?

[??????????]

Canada has a much lower population then the US to begin with, Gabu.

He's referring to murder rate per capita, which takes into consideration the population difference.

Ah, ok, wasn't sure, thanks.

[??????????]

You really must be ignorant.

Sometime look at the murder rate among the various racial groups in the United States, then use the racial percentages of Canada.  If the United States had the same racial percentages as Canada, we would have a murder rate of about the same (look at the murder rates in the Dakotas for example)

Are you saying that Hispanics inherently are more violent, or that immigrants in general tend to be more violent?

Illegal immigrants definately do drive up the crime rate.

[Gabu]

You really must be ignorant.

Sometime look at the murder rate among the various racial groups in the United States, then use the racial percentages of Canada.  If the United States had the same racial percentages as Canada, we would have a murder rate of about the same (look at the murder rates in the Dakotas for example)

Here is the racial breakdown of Seattle:

White 73.49%
Asian 13.12%
Black 8.44%
Native American 1.00%
Pacific Islander 0.50%
Other 2.38%
Multiple 4.46%

Here is the racial breakdown of Toronto:

White 57.2%
Asian 29.0%
    Chinese 10.6%
    South Asian 10.3%
    Filipino 3.5%
    West Asian 1.5%
    Southeast Asian 1.4%
    Korean 1.2%
    Japanese 0.5%
Black 8.3%
Hispanic 2.2%
Arab 0.9%
Other 1.5%

They look pretty similar, right?  Toronto just has more Asians.  So this would likely give Toronto a similar homicide rate to Seattle, right?

HOMICIDE RATE PER 100,000
Seattle - 5.9
Toronto - 1.8

Whoops.

[Giant Saguaro]

Most certainly positively NOT.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

People who want gun control are retards

[Democratic Hawk]

No. Just because I wouldn't own one myself, doesn't give me the right to deny that right unto others

Dave