U.N.: Nearly 1 Gun for Every American

[prolesunited]

U.N.: Nearly 1 Gun for Every American
By EDITH M. LEDERER

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States has by far the largest number of publicly owned firearms in the world and is approaching the point where there is one gun for every American, according to the Small Arms Survey 2003 released Tuesday.
<snip>

The survey said its estimate of the global value of small arms production remains unchanged at about $7.4 billion - with the United States and Russia accounting for more than 70 percent of production. The estimate of the legal small arms trade - $4 billion a year - also remains the same, with the European Union dominating the international export market.
<snip>

"By any measure the United States is the most armed country in the world,'' it said. "With roughly 83 to 96 guns per 100 people, the United States is approaching a statistical level of one gun per person.'' The country with the second-highest gun ownership is Yemen, with between 33 and 50 firearms per 100 people, followed by Finland with 39 per 100, the new survey said.


http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030708%2F220231589.htm&sc=1110

[donsu]

1. Finland?

guns are pushed as much as fast food in the US but Finland? Is it because of what is on the other side of their borders?

[BoatsTwice]

2. Finland is not surprising to me.

Finland had been a vassal state for a long time and then when finally independent, was attacked by the USSR during WWII, then spent 50 years as a frontline Cold War territory. Their national security concerns of the past century accounts pretty well for their "gun culture."

Here I think much of gun ownership is a combination of the frontier mentality being ingrained in the American psyche and an echo of the rebel in most of us Americans fomenting a distinct disdain for being told what to do or what is "acceptable" by self-selected elites who purport to know what is best for the "masses."

[prolesunited]

3. What was more surprising to me

is that we were trailed by Yemen, known as a haven for terrorists.

http://www.terrorismanswers.com/havens/yemen.html

[wheresthemind]

4. alright... I'm going to canada!

Who wants to come with?

[ZenLefty]

5. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3974&mesg_id=3974&page=1