When Americans kill one another, they usually use a gun. In 2013, firearms were used as the murder weapon in 68% of all homicides.
More than 6 in 10 Americans think having a gun in their home makes it a safer place, including 81% of Republicans.
At the current rate, 339,000 Americans will die by guns by the early 2020s. That is roughly equivalent to the current population of Tampa, Florida.
... so do both the violent crime and murder rate. Violence peaked when gun ownership peaked, in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The South has the most gun owners by far, followed by the Midwest and West. The Northeast has the fewest guns per capita.
The South also has the highest rate of assault deaths by far, followed by the Midwest and West. The Northeast has the lowest rate of assault deaths.
The states with the loosest regulation of firearms — congregated in the south and southwest of the US — also have the highest number of annual deaths by gun.
The previous map bears an eerie resemblance to this one, which shows each state's stance on the concealed carry of firearms.
When Americans try to maim or kill, they prefer guns. It makes sense that states with the most guns have abnormally high assault rates.
U.S. civilians control a vast plurality of the world's supply of civilian firearms. There are a shocking 270 million guns in civilian hands in the United States.
Compared to the rest of the world, the U.S. is an extreme outlier. This chart shows that the more guns a country has, the more gun deaths a country has. The U.S. takes this relationship to the extreme.
This chart of industrialized nations shows that the U.S. and Mexico stand alone when it comes to gun ownership and gun homicide.
Here's a look by the Small Arms Survey at the relationship between a country's homicide rate and that country's gun homicide rate. You'll notice that for the most part, the non-firearm homicide rate remains roughly even regardless of the total homicide rate. The main driver of the high homicide rate in certain nations is due to gun homicides.
The U.S. has pretty unique gun laws. U.S. federal law says almost anyone can buy a gun, provided they are of age, the gun is not an assault rifle or machine gun, and they are not a felon, fugitive, or non-citizen.
In the U.K., handguns are illegal and a person needs to get a certificate — and prove they have a good reason — to own a rifle or shotgun. Anyone convicted of a crime cannot touch a gun for 5 years. There are 0.07 gun homicides per every 100,000 people.
In Canada, a person must wait 60 days to buy a gun. A person applying for a mandatory license must take a training course, notify next-of-kin, have several references and pass a rigorous background check. There are 0.5 gun homicides per every 100,000 people.
In Japan, touching a gun without a license can result in 10 years in prison. To obtain a rifle or shotgun, a citizen must undergo an exhaustive application process involving several exams, health tests, police authorization, background checks, and the installation of a safe. There are 122 million people in Japan. In 2008, there were 11 gun homicides. In 2006 there were 2.
Australia is an interesting case. Following the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre, which left 35 people dead, the Conservative-led government banned all automatic and semi-automatic weapons, and mandated licensing involving background checks and waiting periods. The government also instituted a gun buyback program, where 650,000 weapons were voluntarily handed in for $360 million.
The result? A major drop in gun deaths, suicides, and homicides. Australia had 30 gun homicides in 2010, 0.13 gun deaths for each 100,000 people.
When it comes down to it, the gun debate is a one-sided argument in Washington. There isn't even a token opposition to the juggernaut gun lobby.
The NRA claims more than 3 million members. Although that's roughly 1 percent of the country, the active membership claims a lot of electoral influence.
The NRA also gets a significant amount of money from the gun industry in the form of donations, contributions and fundraising assistance.
The NRA also used its influence to gut the ability of the CDC from doing any sort of research on the impact of firearms on human injury and death, deliberately making it harder to conduct scientific research.
Furthermore, since the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, research has shown that more Americans are in favor of protecting the rights of gun owners than instituting gun control laws
In fact, since 2012, 9% more Americans say gun ownership protects them from being the victims of crime.
Republicans and African-Americans are the two groups who most believe gun ownership protects them from being victims of crime.
Incidentally, as the debate over gun control gets more heated, the sale of firearms goes up, as evidenced by the increase in sales of Smith & Wesson products. The explanation? If you perceive is a risk you will not be able to buy guns in the near future, then you buy your guns now.
The NRA's Wayne LaPierre has claimed that gun-free school zones make children sitting targets, thus teachers should be armed.
But children are already pretty safe in schools as is. A very small number of the 30,000 annual gun deaths take place in schools.
So are we really sure its guns that are causing America's violence epidemic? Could it be violent video games?
First of all, it's pretty clear that there's no correlation between video game sales and the youth crime rate, despite what many will say.
Here's a chart showing what a hypothetical correlation between video game consumption and gun murders should look like.
By the Washington Post's Max Fisher.