U.S. gun-related homicide as likely as a fatal car crash

In the wake of the mass shooting at the Orlando LGBT nightclub Pulse which left at least 49 dead, the world's scrutiny has once again turned to gun laws in the United States. Time and time again, the discrepancy between the country's status as one of the most developed in the world and it's exceptionally high levels of gun-related homicides is brought into question. While gun advocates and the highly influential National Rifle Association relentlessly argue for the continued upholding of the Second Amendment and 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms', many demand an end to a state of affairs which means there are now more gun dealers in the U.S. than there are Starbucks.

This is one debate which is fought fiercely from both sides with conflicting arguments consistently being thrown into the ring. What can't be disputed, however, is just how many people are killed by guns in the U.S. and how unfavourably these figures compare to the rest of the developed world. New York Times research has revealed that the rate of gun-related homicides in the United States is about the same as that of people dying in a car accident.

If this isn't startling enough, the chances of such a homicide occurring in Japan are equal to that of being killed by a lightning strike in the U.S. - 0.1 deaths per million population. Further up the scale, a comparable rate for Canada would be alcohol poisoning. In England an agricultural accident and in Scotland a cataclysmic storm. You are as likely in China to be killed by somebody with a gun as you are in the states to die in a plane crash.