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While some decry the level of firearms homicide, comparisons don't always match up. While the United States of America had 11,350 firearms related homicides in 2005<ref>http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_01.html</ref>, and the United Kingdom had 50 in the UK, which heavily restricts the civilian possession of all firearms.<ref>http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb0207.pdf</ref> While the United States of America has a population approximately 6 times greater than the UK, the number of individuals with firearms in the USA far outweigh those in the UK. For instance, the UK has approximately 36.6 firearms per 100,000 residents while the USA has approximately 41,000 firearms for 100,000 residents. <ref>http://www.wfsa.net/adobe_documents/Cross_Sectional_Study.PDF</ref> This indicates that an individual firearm in UK is 30 times more likely to be used in a homocide than an individual firearms in the USA. A different view would be that you are 38 times more likely to be killed in a gun related homocide in the USA rather than the UK. There is also a far higher risk of gun related accidents.

While some decry the level of firearms homicide, comparisons don't always match up. While the United States of America had 11,350 firearms related homicides in 2005<ref>http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_01.html</ref>, and the United Kingdom had 50 in the UK, which heavily restricts the civilian possession of all firearms.<ref>http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb0207.pdf</ref> While the United States of America has a population approximately 6 times greater than the UK, the number of individuals with firearms in the USA far outweigh those in the UK. For instance, the UK has approximately 36.6 firearms per 100,000 residents while the USA has approximately 41,000 firearms for 100,000 residents. <ref>http://www.wfsa.net/adobe_documents/Cross_Sectional_Study.PDF</ref> This indicates that an individual firearm in UK is 30 times more likely to be used in a homocide than an individual firearms in the USA. A different view would be that you are 38 times more likely to be killed in a gun related homocide in the USA rather than the UK. There is also a far higher risk of gun related accidents.

Some studies have shown that law-abiding citizens carrying guns are statistically an effective deterrent and defense against lawless or criminal individuals. Further comparison between different states in the USA indicates that states that have more permissive gun laws have distinctly lower crime rates, violent crime rates, and firearms homicides than states with more restrictive gun laws.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lott]

Some studies have shown that law-abiding citizens carrying guns are statistically an effective deterrent and defense against lawless or criminal individuals. Further comparison between different states in the USA by [[John Lott]] indicates that states that have more permissive gun laws have distinctly lower crime rates, violent crime rates, and firearms homicides than states with more restrictive gun laws.