Posted on 08/28/2007 10:55:28 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people
By Laura MacInnis 28 minutes ago
The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.
U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.
About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said.
"There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide. Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per 10 people," it said.
India had the world's second-largest civilian gun arsenal, with an estimated 46 million firearms outside law enforcement and the military, though this represented just four guns per 100 people there. China, ranked third with 40 million privately held guns, had 3 firearms per 100 people.
Germany, France, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil and Russia were next in the ranking of country's overall civilian gun arsenals.
On a per-capita basis, Yemen had the second most heavily armed citizenry behind the United States, with 61 guns per 100 people, followed by Finland with 56, Switzerland with 46, Iraq with 39 and Serbia with 38.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
True... There’s room for improvement!
Thinking: "Thank you Lord. I thought I was all alone..."
Out Loud: Heck, If WE can't do it, how the heck did the Graduate Institute of International Studies manage to come up with a number? ;)
Get over it. Every new firearm sold by a dealer is "registered" to that buyer, in that the paperwork completed at time of purchase is readily available to the government.
One of the strengths of the pro-gun movement is simply the enormous numbers of firearms owned by the people, many of whom are plenty unhappy with the anti-gun liberals. Join the NRA and buy some more guns.
The second time I fired it the TC “Recoil proof” scope went flying. I only use open sights now and only use one hand. Keeps the trigger guard from digging into the weak hand.
I live in India and I am a proud firearm owner - but I am the exception not the norm, an odd situation in a country with a proud martial heritage and a long history of firearm innovation. This is not because the people of India are averse to gun ownership, but instead due to Draconian anti-gun legislation going back to colonial times.
To trace the roots of India's anti-gun legislation we need to step back to the latter half of the 19th century. The British had recently fought off a major Indian rebellion (the mutiny of 1857) and were busy putting in place measures to ensure that the events of 1857 were never repeated. These measures included a major restructuring of administration and the colonial British Indian Army along with improvements in communications and transportation. Meanwhile the Indian masses were systematically being disarmed and the means of local firearm production destroyed, to ensure that they (the Indian masses) would never again have the means to rise in rebellion against their colonial masters. Towards this end the colonial government, under Lord Lytton as Viceroy (1874 -1880), brought into existence the Indian Arms Act, 1878 (11 of 1878); an act which, exempted Europeans and ensured that no Indian could possess a weapon of any description unless the British masters considered him a "loyal" subject of the British Empire.
An example of British thinking in colonial times:
"No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave. He, who has nothing, and who himself belongs to another, must be defended by him, whose property he is, and needs no arms. But he, who thinks he is his own master, and has what he can call his own, ought to have arms to defend himself, and what he possesses; else he lives precariously, and at discretion." --James Burgh (Political Disquisitions: Or, an Enquiry into Public Errors, Defects, and Abuses) [London, 1774-1775]
And thoughts (on this subject) of the man who wanted to rule the world:
"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed the subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty." -- Adolf Hitler (H.R. Trevor-Roper, Hitler's Table Talks 1941-1944)
The leaders of our freedom struggle recognised this, even Gandhi the foremost practitioner of passive resistance and non-violence had this to say about the British policy of gun-control in India:
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."
-- Mahatma Gandhi (An Autobiography OR The story of my experiments with truth, by M.K. Gandhi, p.238)
India became independent in 1947, but it still took 12 years before this act was finally repealed. In 1959 the British era Indian Arms Act, 1878 (11 of 1878.) was finally consigned to history and a new act, the Arms Act, 1959 was enacted. This was later supplemented by the Arms Rules, 1962.
Unfortunately this new legislation was also formulated based on the Indian Government's innate distrust its own citizens. Though somewhat better than the British act, this legislation gave vast arbitrary powers to the "Licensing Authorities", in effect ensuring that it is often difficult and sometimes impossible for an ordinary law abiding Indian citizen to procure an arms license.
"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie." -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
India's domestic policy on small arms and light weapons is regulated under the Arms Act (1959) and Arms Rules (1962). Due to the gravity of the problem of the proliferation of illicit SALW (Small Arms Light Weapons) and their misuse in terrorist activities, India has, since 1987, withdrawn substantially the license issuing powers of State and District authorities - who may not, now, issue licenses for prohibited bore weapons. Since 1987, their powers have been limited to issuing licences for non-prohibited bore weapons and these licenses are valid for a limited geographical area. Licenses for possession of prohibited bore weapons may only be issued, under special conditions, by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. (4)
Licensing Requirements: All firearm owners must be licensed. Applicants must provide information regarding:
The applicant must present photographic identification and pay the prescribed fee for that firearm. (2) Under the existing law, all civilians are required to get their weapon /s inspected once a year by a competent authority - this is also recorded in the licence. (4)
The licensing authority may also refuse the licence for which he will record the reasons. The licensing authority may refuse to grant the licence if the applicant:
The licensing authorities maintain list of firearm owners and the firearms held by them. No centralised database is maintained about firearm ownership and the identification of firearm. Every police station maintains a register of the licence holders in its jurisdiction, with the name of the licensee, description of weapon and its purpose. This list is updated from time to time. The licences are renewed after the prescribed period mentioned in the license or 3 years, whichever is earlier. Any police officer or other officer specially empowered on this behalf by the Central Government can demand the production of licence from the person carrying firearms or ammunition. The licensee is required to inform the licensing authorities of any change of place of residence. (2)
Registration Requirements: All small arms manufactured in India are uniquely marked by stamping to indicate the registration number, manufacturer/factory of origin and the year of manufacture on one or more of the critical components of a small arm - the body, the breech block and the barrel - during the final stages of production. This applies to arms that are produced for private/personal use and those which are used by armed forces, police or paramilitary forces. Allotment of these registration numbers for the armed forces/police and para-military forces is done centrally and a record is maintained of these registration numbers along with the indent. This provides for a double check on the records. A record of each and every weapon manufactured by the factory is kept along with the information on the concerned dealer. Arms which do not bear specified identification marks may not be sold or transferred. Further, any person found in possession of a weapon without identification marks would be presumed to have removed/obliterated the marks unless proven otherwise. (4)
Training Requirements: No training certification is required. However, some state governments do require such a certificate from professional bodies. (2)
Storage Requirements: The firearm must be stored in the safe place described by the owner in his or her licence application. There is no regulation regarding safety in domestic custody by the owner except the initial assurance of availability of safe place to keep arms in his application for grant of licence. (2)
Prohibited Firearms:
Penalties: Penalties for violations of firearm laws include:
For the following infractions, punishment is the payment of a fine in addition to imprisonment for no less than three years and no more than seven years:
Manufacture: India manufactures firearms, component parts and ammunition for domestic civilian markets and not for foreign civilian markets. (2) The manufacture and production of SALW in India is fully controlled by Government of India. Small arms for armed forces/police as well as for civilian use are primarily manufactured by Indian Ordnance Factories controlled by the Ministry of Defence. (4)
The private sector is primarily engaged in the manufacture of single and double-barrel (shot)guns and air rifles/pistols. Even after the liberalisation of the Indian economy and the removal of the licensing regime for major industries, the manufacture of arms like revolvers, pistols and rifled weapons (and their associated ammunition) has not been allowed in the private sector by the Government of India. (4)
The policy for manufacture of arms and ammunition in the private sector is based on the Industry Policy Resolution (1956). Private sector manufacturers of firearms are required by law to get every manufactured firearm stamped to show:
All ordnance factories maintain detailed records of small arms manufactured by them. Private firms and persons authorised to manufacture firearms against licences issued under the Arms Rules of 1962 are required to maintain a Gun Manufacturing Register which records information, including serial numbers and date, month and year of manufacture. They are also required to maintain a Register of Rectification in which the Serial Numbers stamped on guns which are not passed by the Proof House on first submission are to be entered with a cross reference to the Gun Manufacturing Register. A designated Inspecting Officer inspects these registers regularly. A record of arms sold in the civilian market (non-prohibited bore) is also required to be kept by each arms dealer under Section 26 of the Arms Rules (1962) in a Sale and Transfer Register. These records are regularly checked by the concerned state/district authorities. (4)
Import and Export: India imports ammunition, but not firearms or component parts, for its domestic civilian markets. (2) Approximately $21.7 million (US) worth of weapons were imported in 2000. The country's main supplier of legal arms is Russia, followed by Austria, the United Kingdom, Slovakia and Italy. There are also reports of major contracts with Israel and Bulgaria. (5)
Imports are, as a rule, restricted to renowned shooters and rifle clubs for their own use on the recommendation of the concerned Government Department. If an imported firearm kept for sale by a dealer does not bear the manufacturer's name, the concerned importer is required to engrave appropriate identification marks (identifying the importer), as allotted by the Government under these provisions. (4)
India exports firearms, but not component parts or ammunition, to foreign civilian markets. (2) The country further prohibits the export of:
Export of all lethal items as well as other equipment and stores manufactured by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and Indian Ordnance Factories is governed by a regime administered by the Ministry of Defence in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs. DPSUs and ordnance factories may export their items only on receipt of a "No-Objection Certificate" (NOC) from the Department of Defence Production and Supplies, Ministry of Defence. The grant of an NOC is subject, inter alia , to an end-user certificate - on a government-to-government basis - and to conformity with foreign policy objectives - which includes a ban on exports to countries under UN embargo. (4)
Both exports and imports by individuals or commercial entities are permitted only with relevant licences. (4)
Only [shrapnel] hits count.
Of course this thread began with "guns", but has now morphed to include all weapons. You've forgotten conventional "area denial" weaponry.
Sorry....you have failed.
Immediately go buy a gun.
You more than likely have enough....
Now go buy more ammo.
*snicker*
Out Loud: Heck, If WE can't do it, how the heck did the Graduate Institute of International Studies manage to come up with a number? ;)
You're absolutely right. I hadn't thought of that.
That’s why Hindus get beat up by Muslims and the Chinese are working slaves under a dictatorship.
Apparently the freer a country, the more guns the people have.
It's not helping us keep away an (allegedly) unarmed invasion from the south.
Jesse wants to remedy that...
Join march against gun violence
August 28, 2007
JESSE JACKSON jjackson@rainbowpush.org
Wednesday is the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, made famous by Martin Luther King’s stirring oration. We remember the Rev. King’s “dream,” but he was not a dreamer. The March on Washington was a demand for changes in the law to provide equal rights to all Americans.
Wednesday in more than 20 cities across America, activists will once more march for basic rights. There will be candlelight ceremonies, rallies, marches and “lie-ins,” where 32 people — the number who die each day from gun violence — will lie down to protest the flood of illegal guns in our country. The protest will join together the RainbowPush Coalition, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the Million Moms March and dozens of other groups.
Why the protest? Gun violence is up, and gun law enforcement is down. The guns are not made in our cities. For the most part, they are not sold there. But a disproportionate number of their victims are there.
Who supplies illegal guns? Studies by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives show that 1 percent of the gun dealers supply a stunning 57 percent of the guns used in crimes. A handful of dealers — spurning the laws and checks that screen out those with a criminal record or “straw purchasers” for others — profit from trafficking in illegal gun sales.
Background checks are required on all federally licensed gun dealers. But four of 10 guns in the United States are sold without any such check. Felons, the mentally imbalanced and those on the terrorist watch are free to purchase guns. And in many states, there are no limits on the number of guns someone can buy at one time.
Most of these sales without checks take place at gun shows. Thirty percent of trafficked guns, according to the ATF, are sold at gun shows or flea markets. The gun lobby has blocked efforts to require background checks on any gun purchase.
The demands of the protesters are just common sense:
1. Enforce the laws we do have; lift the shackles on the ATF to enforce the law. ATF is notoriously underfunded. The Department of Justice estimates it would take 22 years for it to inspect all federally licensed dealers given current manpower. Its enforcement powers have been crippled by limiting its ability to suspend licenses and issue fines to gun dealers that trample the laws.
2. Extend background checks to all gun sales. In the age of al-Qaida, with gun violence growing, let’s make no exceptions. Every sale requires a background check — no check, no sale.
3. Ban large-volume sales of guns. Someone coming into a gun show to purchase 10 or 20 weapons at once isn’t going hunting for deer. Some states have limits, but many do not. Limits make the use of straw purchasers more difficult.
These commonsense measures are vital. Gun violence now violates basic civil rights. It terrorizes people on their own streets and in their own homes. It is time to crack down on gun traffickers. It is perverse that politicians respond more to the extremist arguments of the gun lobby than to the common sense of their own communities. Wednesday, we march to say it is time to act — and to hold responsible those who stand in the way.
The Rev. King understood that segregation must be challenged by the oppressed, for it would not be challenged by the oppressors. Easy access to guns must be challenged by its victims, for it will not be opposed by those who profit from it. In the age of al-Qaida and Virginia Tech, terrorists can still buy guns without a background check. It is time to march.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/530538,CST-EDT-jesse28.article
And not much chance that anybody wants to tangle with those bad boys.
What was the population of Finland during WWII, maybe 6 or 7 million tops? What was the population of the USSR when it invaded Finland and got it's butt kicked back to Siberia, 150 million or more? Nobody in their right mind would want a piece of those guys.
Whoo-hoo.
Ammo? You wouldn't believe the ammo we already have. But, one can never have too much-can one?
I should have my SVD in about two weeks.(maybe three) I'm on tender hooks over it.
“area denial”? like caltrops, IEDs, conibears, stakes, etc?
Not enough guns.
Interesting that the free-est country in the world also has the most guns per capita.
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