Gun Statistics

 
 

Vocabulary

versus	rest (2)	rest of the world
per	type (2)	represent
double	point (4)	look at that in another way
pile	percent	worldwide
ammo	firearm	shoot/shot/shot
bullet	violence	advanced country
mass	definition	look into that
FBI	random	approximately
event	homicide	combined
reckon	statistic

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Guns in America versus the rest of the world.

First up, let’s talk about the total number of guns. So for this, every bullet represents one gun per one-hundred people.

So Japan has point six (0.6) guns for every one-hundred people. The UK as six point two (6.2) guns for every 100 people.

Next up, Australia has more than double that with fifteen guns; Germany double that with 30.3 guns. Switzerland’s got 45.7 guns per 100 people.

And the US? 88.9 guns for every one hundred people.

Looking at that in another way, if this pile here is the total population of the world, then the US would be about five percent.

And if this pile of ammo here represents the total amount of guns worldwide, the US has 35% to 50% of every gun in the world.

So let’s talk about what actually happens with these guns.

After the Charleston shooting, President Obama came out and said this: “At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”

So let’s look into that. Let’s look into mass shootings worldwide. We’re going to use the FBI’s definition of mass killings, which is four or more random deaths.

Since 1997, Japan has had zero mass shootings, same as Australia; they’ve had none.

The UK has had one event. Germany has had three, same as Switzerland, they’ve had three events as well.

The United States has had three — in 2014 alone. Since 1997, the United States has had 51 mass killings.

Next, we’re going to look at the total firearm homicides in this country. We’re going to use the statistic of one out of every ten million per year.

Japan’s homicide rate is one per ten million people. UK’s rate is six. Germany’s rate is seven out of ten million. Australia’s is thirteen. Switzerland has a rate of twenty-six.

And the US?

Four-hundred-and-one.

Since 1997, there have been approximately 540,000 American deaths from firearms. That’s more than World War One and World War Two combined.

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Questions

1. The presenter used conventional graphs and charts to illustrate his point. True or false?

2. Did they compare randomly selected countries from around the world?

3. What was the main point regarding gun ownership?

4. Then Present Obama said gun deaths are a global phenomenon. Is this right or wrong?

5. Is there a correlation between gun ownership and homicide rates?

6. The presenter is critical of the US. What do you think?

7. Do you think the video is biased? It is in favor of guns, or gun control

 
 

A. Do all, many, some, a few people or no one own guns in your country?

B. What is the attitude among your friends towards gun ownership and gun control?

C. Is murder a major problem where you live?

D. What will happen in the future?

E. How can murders be reduced?