Violence

Worldwide, violence claims the lives of 1.6 million people each year. According to a recent report by the World Healt Organization, 14 percent of all deaths for males in 2001 were due to violence, and 7 percent for females. Men were responsible for more than three-quartes of all homicides, with men ages 15 to 29 having the highest rates.
According to the lobbying group Handgun Control, "more Americans were killed with guns in the 18-year period between 1979 and 1997 (651,697) than were killed in battle in all wars since 1775 (650,858).An American dies from a gunshot wound every eighteen minutes. Of the 60,000 Americans to die from guns in the last two years, 1500 died accidentally, 15000 committed suicide and 11000 were murdered. Arguments about the contribution of gun availability to violent gun deaths often depend on empirical claims that are difficult to verify. Supporters of gun ownership most often appeal to particular interpretations of the Second Amendment to the U.S constitution and its stipulations about the "right to bear arms." Critics of such claims point out that this had to do with the need at the time for an armed militia as an internal protective force and that the same conditions do not now apply.