Everyone loves a good infographic. You know, those giant images that contain a large amount of information presented it in an easy-to-understand manner? One of our readers sent along the following graphic [click here for the original in glorious high definition] that puts in perspective the number and type of gun uses in the United States every year as opposed to how they may be perceived. Make the jump for the image . . .

how_are_guns_used_by_citizensvia-infothread-dot-org

53 COMMENTS

  1. Is there someplace I can order a really large one of these? And I’d be willing to contribute towards putting this on a couple of roadside billboards.

  2. It seems that the link to the source is not working. Is there a way to see the full resolution file?

    • I too would like a higher quality, printable PDF version of this. I don’t mind printing it on multiple pages and then trimming it with scissors to post it up in my office.

      • The source is no good, I checked it and it seems to be down. the image as shown is tiny when posted to FB. I just did it and it sucks.

        • its a JPEG. Open it in something like Photoshop, resample it. It should print fairly large.. its 1.5 Mb

  3. Hey Nick, the pic of the FNS is click linking to an archived ar15.com post. FYI

  4. By clicking on the “Full Resolution” size (and magnifying), you’ll be able to at least read the sources.

  5. I want to print several of these out in a big plotter printer, weather-proof them, and hang them up EVERYWHERE.

  6. I’m not saying this to disagree with the chart, but isn’t there some discrepancy in what the U.S and U.K each consider a violent crime? Does anyone know anything about that?

    • There indeed some differences in the way the UK and US keep crime stats. The UK counts every reported bar fight or scuffle as a “violent crime” regardless of whether charges are drawn or if anyone is convicted. The US does not count such cases of “affray” as violent crime unless someone actually is actually charged with assault.

      If you remove these incidents from UK crime stats, the ratio is different, but incidents of violent crime (per capita) are still well over twice that of the US.

      If you include incidents of “bar fights” or “simple assault” in the US … we have far fewer of these in the US than the UK – per capita, of course. By that measure, the UK is even MORE violent than the infographic suggests.

      The UK is simply a much more violent society, and violent crime is trending upwards. The US is less violent, and violent crime is either stable or trending downwards.

    • Anyone that has spent time in the UK knows that their crime rate is higher. I remember my girlfriend went there for the first time for three weeks and saw three street fights. I asked her how many she had seen living her whole life in Seattle. Answer, none. Hey, she was in the tourist areas not the hard core areas of London! I always tell British subjects that it is probably a good thing they do not have guns because they are so violent. That doesn’t endear me to them.

      Another thing that cannot be compared is the murder rate. The antis are always quick to point out how low the murder rate is in the UK compared to the US. Well there is a huge problem with that. The rates are not comparable. In the UK the Home Office only counts as murders those cases where someone has been convicted of murder! Yeah, that’s right. If the case is unsolved it doesn’t count as a murder! It’s apples and catfish. The numbers are not comparable. We really don’t know what the UK murder rate is using our method of counting however, you can bet it is highter than say a state like Wyoming with the highest gun ownership rate in the US at 59.7% and a rate of 1.4 per 100,000. The UK claims 1.2 but remember it only counts solved cases with convictions. They also do not count as murder incidents we would here, at least not for reporting. You cannot compare the two countries.

  7. 2 out of 5 felons will mess with an armed victim? Not in my house. At least, at their peril.

    • Well, considering that 20-30% of violent prison inmates could be considered borderline mentally retarded or worse, that isn’t too surprising.

      • Yeah. In the only known case of a spree shooting that did NOT occur in a “phony gun-free zone,” the shooter was such a wacko that if he understood he was still on earth, he was having a good day. On the other hand, a Democratic political rally in the most liberal city in Arizona is probably the gun-freest zone in the state on any given day.

  8. To make the pic big enough to read the sources do this:
    Click on it… Then, underneath the title, you should see this:
    “By Nick Leghorn | Published May 8, 2013 | Full size is 1029 × 4529 pixels ”

    Click on the “1029 x 4529” and then click again to zoom in if needed.

    Right click and save and copy to Facebook or whatever you want.
    Please be kind, rewind.

  9. I believe in the UK violent crimes are only recorded after a criminal has been proven to be guilty rather than classify the actual impact to the victim. Soo they would have to be caught and tried for the violent crime statistic to be changed.

  10. A few weeks back there was a post here on TTAG about the governor of Maine stating how low the Maine crime rate is. Yeah because Maine is 98% white, does not have drug trade violence like other states and the general standard of living is better there than other states. The stats about causes of gun violence is pretty clear.

    • Same deal here in Wyoming, and remember, we have the highest incidence of gun ownership our state population of any state.

  11. Reading the poster just rang a bell for me. Why Obeyme is keeping the Fort Hood murders a “workplace” violence instead of a terrorist act against our military. Deaths of our soldiers are likely not counted. Therefore, Fort Hood, is just another mass shooting to bump the gun crime stats.

    • Also so the victim don’t get the typical military benefits due those killed or wounded in action. Little things like a purple heart, or survivor benefits, and they also get to say that is wasn’t a terrorist attack on US soil (they had a clean record on his watch until Boston, by that measure).

  12. The BBC news article about people calling for the ban of pointy knives reads like “ban the AR” article, with knives instead. So much so it literally looks like a joke, and I had to check to make sure it really was BBC.

  13. I don’t know when this was compiled, but how did we go down to 270 million guns in America! It has been 300 million for years and that was before the buying craze since 2008, where did all of those weapons go?

      • Must be, although it doesn’t help our cause (and confirms the lies from the anti’s) that gun ownership is down….which it isn’t! I know many new gun owners since 2008 and I’m talking about folks who didn’t own any firearms, not just adding more to their safes.

    • I’m willing to bet that no one really knows. Similar that no one knows exactly how many people are in the US illegally. Government has never been the greatest example of efficiency.

  14. Nick or RF, if you haven’t already done so, please add this to the gun facts section of the website so it can be easily found for future use.

  15. Good stuff. It will help as I strive to educate my friends and associates about gun ownership and why I strongly support 2A.
    Thanks Nick!

  16. Y’know, ever since I found out about Britain’s soaring violence statistics, I’ve joked about the nation “not being trustworthy with steak knives anymore”. But to find out that people are in fact trying to ban dinner cutlery…Damn….just…just Damn.

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