A study by Harvard has concluded there is no connection between gun ownership and murder rates.
The study comes to light the same day the Obama administration has announced more executive orders on gun control.
The executive orders would attempt to stop the importation of military surplus weapons and the other would bar firearms from being registered to corporations or a trust.
Vice President Joe Biden stated if congress won’t act on gun control, he’ll fight for a new congress and called the executive orders common sense.
This comes as the Harvard study showed that fewer guns do not mean fewer murders.
The study found that where guns are scarce, other weapons are substituted in killings. Many developed countries with high rates of gun ownership have murder rates as low or lower than other nations where gun ownership is more rare.
Those counties with high gun ownership beyond the United States include Norway, Finland, Germany France and Denmark.
The lengthy study found misconceptions in regards to gun control in Europe.
“A second misconception about the relationship between firearms and violence attributes Europe’s generally low homicide rates to stringent gun control. That attribution cannot be accurate since murder in Europe was at an all‐time low before the gun controls were introduced.”
The study was careful not to suggest that gun bans increased crime, but did mention that after confiscation of thousands of firearms, crime rates soared in the United Kingdom.
“To gun control advocates, England, the cradle of our liberties, was a nation made so peaceful by strict gun control that its police did not even need to carry guns,” the study noted. “On the other hand, the same time period in the United Kingdom saw a constant and dramatic increase in violent crime to which England’s response was ever‐more drastic gun control including, eventually, banning and confiscating all handguns and many types of long guns.”
They go on to mention by year 2000, England had surpassed the United States to become one the most violence ridden nations. In the last 15 years, crime rates in the United States has plummeted, according to the study which in particular points out homicides and violent crimes.
“Perhaps the United States is doing something right in promoting firearms for law‐abiding responsible adults. Or perhaps the United States’ success in lowering its violent crime rate relates to increasing its prison population or its death sentences.”
The study suggests more research could pinpoint the exact reasoning. But it also hints at gun ownership deterring crimes in the United States, detailing that more than 100 million handguns are owned, and research found more defensive gun uses by victims recently than crimes involving firearms.
The study cited a National Institute of Justice survey of prison inmates showing the fear a victim may be armed has deterred them from confrontational crimes. The study also suggested crimes such as robbery are highest in states the most restrict gun ownership.
The study would later suggest that those who do commit violent crimes, will do so regardless of the methods available.
“Contrary to what should be the case if more guns equal more death, there are no consistent indications of a link between gun ownership and criminal or violent behavior by owners; in fact, gun ownership is higher among whites than among blacks, higher among middle‐aged people than among young people, higher among married than among unmarried people, higher among richer people than poor—all patterns that are the reverse of the way in which criminal behavior is distributed.”