If you read this in context you will find that its the criminal forces in our country perpetuating the firearm crimes. Alln the more reason to have and keep firearms handy and readily available in case of need!
Not all homicides involve a weapon. But while
killers can prove to be particularly ingenious
regarding the manner in which they dispose of
other people, 42 per cent of global homicides are
actually committed by firearm. Homicides in the
Americas are more than three and a half times as
likely to be perpetrated with a firearm than in
Europe (74 per cent vs. 21 per cent), whereas
sharp objects are more than twice as likely to be
murder weapons in Europe, where they predominate, than in the Americas (36 per cent vs. 16
per cent).
The role played by firearms in homicide is fundament a l and, whi l e the spe c i f i c re l a t i onship
between firearm availability and homicide is complex, it appears that a vicious circle connects firea rm a va i l abi l i t y and hi ghe r homi c ide l e ve l s .
Firearms undoubtedly drive homicide increases in
certain regions and where they do members of
organized criminal groups are often those who
pull the trigger.
In the Americas, more than 25 per cent of homicides are related to organized crime and the activities of criminal gangs, while the same is only true
of some 5 per cent of homicides in the Asian and
European countries for which data are available.
This does not mean, however, that organized criminal groups are not as active in those two regions,
but rather that they may resort to means other
than visible extreme violence in the pursuit of their
illicit activities.
In many countries with high homicide rates the
share of firearm homicides is also greater and is
often associated with the illicit activities of organized criminal groups, which are often linked to
drug trafficking, the root cause of the surge in
homicides in Central America in recent years. In
the last five years, homicide rates have increased in
five out of eight countries in Central America,
with some countries seeing their rate more than
double in the same period. These trends are largely
attributable to fluctuations in cocaine trafficking
in Central America, which can lead to criminal
conflicts as a result of both increases and decreases
in drug flows, with the latter particularly resulting
in increased competition between drug trafficking
groups.
To assert their authority, mark their territory or
challenge the authorities, organized criminal
groups also use indiscriminate lethal violence that
may not be directly attributable to drug trafficking
but has resulted, in recent years, in the murders of
numerous state representatives, elected officials
and law enforcement officers, as well as members
of the general public. Increasing violence redraws
the boundaries of its own acceptability and in so
doing fuels homicide yet further.