There are around 230m guns in America. One in four Americans claims to have been threatened by one. In 1997, handguns were used in 17,566 suicides (60% of the total) and in 12,337 homicides. Since 1962, the number of firearms deaths a year has doubled, although the past two years have shown a slight decline. Falling or not, America's rate of death by guns is extraordinarily high by the standards of the civilised world.
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