Many folks have been arguing that European Nations who have lower gun ownership have less murders by guns, which is true. But in a Harvard study by two criminologists, Professor Don Kates and Professor Gary Mauser shows that European nations with less gun ownership have higher overall murder rates that European nations with a higher gun owning population.

Russia has had very strict gun ownership for many years but the overall murder rate is 4 times higher than the United States.

The study also shows that 9 European nations with the lowest number of gun owners have a combined murder rate that is 3 times higher than 9 other European nations with higher numbers of gun owners.

Norway has less strict gun laws while Sweden has much stricter gun laws but Sweden has a much higher rate of murders than Norway.

Their conclusion is that banning guns does not lower the overall number of murders but may increase those numbers in the long run.

This study can be found in the Harvard Journal of Law& Public Policy, volume 30, number 2, pages 649-694 and is titles "Would banning firearms reduce murder and suicide? A review of international and domestic evidence."

Now this article is only about murder rates and is no way a suggestion that we do nothing about murders caused by guns. It is just a little information that shows banning guns may not be the answer in lowering the overall murders committed in our country.

Murder is murder no matter how one is killed.