Does anybody have any links or citations to studies regarding gun laws in various countries and rates of gun violence? Are the rates dramatically higher in the US vs. countries that have stricter gun laws?
Of course the US is going to have higher rates and sheer numbers of those committing violent crimes utilizing a firearm. Nations such as the UK, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, China, France, and Germany have much lower violent crime rates. Reasons for this go well above and beyond something simple as strict gun control laws(the Columbine shooters broke well over 50 gun laws alone) such as culture and a mostly homogenous peoples. Then again, going beyond guns, the US still exceeds those other nations when it comes to homicides and accidents(i.e. vehicles, knives, blunt instruments). Nothing is ever simple, and a shooting of this magnitude always brings up the topic of more strict gun control laws.
Abortion and access to abortion facilities is THE statistic when it comes to reducing violent crime. You'll see cities and states (Democrat-heavy, if I may add) begin their crime decreases in direct relation to how soon its populace had better access to abortion facilities upon the Roe V. Wade decision. The overall vast majority of women having abortions are those who do not have a real means of support for their expectant children and lack of a nuclear family structure. If these children were to be born, the chances would be much higher of them committing future crimes. Read about former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausecu and you'll see what I am talking about.
Family structure is another overlooked stat. Stable family environments lead to much lesser likelihoods of its members. Why do you think African-Americans have such high percentages of violent crimes committed? I'm in the process of adoption, and the number of children available are mostly African-American. Of course, you can throw the whole family structure argument out as infamous killers such as the Batman Shooter, Columbine, and Jeffrey Dahmer came from good households.
A new stat that should be looked at is how many of these killers are on some sort of behavior altering drug that is pushed by major pharmaceutical industries?
Anyway, here's some gun stats in the US for you to look at that disproves gun violence and gun control laws that attempt to prevent them.
http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp