Gun Obsession: Owning Firearms does not Create Safer Environment

As Americans, quite simply, we love and cherish our guns. (Most sleep with an AK-47 under their pillow, or is it just me?) In fact, when it comes to shooting sprees, in the United States alone, there have been 61 mass murders carried out with firearms across the country through 30 states ranging from Massachusetts to Hawaii, according to Mother Jones. And the saddest part about most of these is that a majority of the weapons obtained were done so legally.

Well, despite what Clint Eastwood and the NRA might say, researchers are debunking the myth that guns make your house more patriotic and safer.

A recent study looked at data from 27 developed countries, noting possible links between gun ownership rates, mental illness and the risk of firearm-related deaths. Specifically examining the recent shootings in the United States, including Aurora, Tucson, Oak Creek, at Virginia Tech, some believe that there could be a link between mental illness and easy gun access. (You THINK?)

"Private gun ownership was highest in the US. Japan, on the other end, had an extremely low gun ownership rate. Similarly, South Africa (9.4 per 100,000) and the US (10.2 per 100,000) had extremely high firearm-related deaths, whereas the United Kingdom (0.25 per 100,000) had an extremely low rate of firearm-related deaths," researcher Sripal Bangalore, MD, MHA, of NYU Langone Medical Center, said in a news release.

Despite that the The Gun Control Act of 1968 that provided support to Federal, State and local law enforcement officials in their fight against violent crime in the hopes of preventing the purchase of guns to certain individuals, some individuals who probably shouldn't own certain silverware, much less gun, are still caught totting weapons around.

For instance Aaron Alexis, who purchased a pump-action Remington 870 shotgun in Virginia and went on a murderous rampage Monday at Washington Navy Yard, according to The Conneticut Post, taking 12 lives, including his own, had been arrested twice before for shooting incidents and reportedly heard voices and believed his body was being injected with microwaves. Reports also indicate that he was also receiving mental health treatment in VA.

These latest findings show a strong correlation between guns per head per country and the rate of fire-arm related deaths. Do they also say something about gun ownership and crazies? 

Maybe. Maybe not. But we do know one thing. Something must be done about those violent video games, because those actually affect people. Right, Sen. Lamar Alexander? (Oh, Tennessee.)

More information regarding the study can be found via The American Journal of Medicine.