An anti-gun group posted a summary – or at least, an alleged one – claiming to show how many guns Americans own versus citizens in other, more supposedly progressive countries.
And suffice it to say, it didn’t go over very well. In fact, in kind of backfired – no pun intended.
Public Citizen, a non-profit that claims to “defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people,” posted this list on Twitter:
Guns per 100 people:
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) December 10, 2019
🇮🇩0
🇹🇼0
🇰🇷0.2
🇯🇵0.3
🇸🇬0.3
🇪🇹0.4
🇺🇬0.8
🇰🇪2
🇧🇴2
🇵🇪2
🇵🇱3
🇳🇱3
🇨🇳4
🇮🇳5
🏴6
🇸🇰7
🇮🇱7
🇮🇪7
🇮🇷7
🇦🇷7
🇪🇸8
🇸🇾8
🇧🇷8
🇿🇦10
🇩🇰10
🇺🇦10
🇨🇴10
🇨🇱12
🇷🇺12
🇨🇿13
🇧🇪13
🇲🇽13
🇭🇷14
🇮🇹14
🇹🇭15
🇹🇷17
🇸🇦17
🇫🇷20
🇩🇪20
🇵🇹21
🇸🇪23
🇳🇿26
🇨🇭28
🇮🇸32
🇫🇮32
🇨🇦35
🇺🇾35
🇷🇸39
🇾🇪53
.
.
.
🇺🇸121
And let’s just say…..well, it didn’t exactly have the intended chilling effect.
— thePirateRoddick (@sirRoddick) December 10, 2019
USA! USA! pic.twitter.com/v6oi1qGrsT
— Jessica Green 🎄 (@AnarchyToward) December 11, 2019
— Luke Miller (@LukeWMiller) December 11, 2019
— The Well Armed Lamb (@LambWithGuns) December 11, 2019
I feel like such a slacker. I only have 18.
— Larry Gates (@AggieLarry) December 10, 2019
America wins again
— ☠️ Lilith Lovett ☠️ (@LilithLovett) December 11, 2019
And those are just a few of the many, many, many responses in the pro-gun column.
While it’s not clear exactly where Public Citizen is getting their numbers (although some signs point to Wikipedia), it is true that there are roughly 350 million or so guns in circulation throughout the United States, including an estimated 4 million AR-15s.
Even still, the FBI notes there were only about 11,000 firearm-related homicides in 2016, the most recent year available online. Of those, rifles were used in only 374.
So while there may be more guns per citizen in the United States, there appear to be a relatively low number of murders per citizen, as well.
But a whole lot more freedom.