- Daily & Weekly newsletters
- Buy & download The Bulletin
- Comment on our articles
Related articles
Recent
Popular
Stricter gun laws result in fewer deaths, says institute
The number of murders and suicides involving firearms in Belgium has decreased significantly since 2006, the direct result of the tightening of the Belgian Firearms Act in the same year, according to the Flemish Peace Institute.
In 2006 in Belgium, there were an average of 300 murders and suicides every year involving firearms, says researcher Nils Duquet of the Flemish Peace Institute. "Since then, this number has dropped considerably, to an average of 200 gun-related deaths a year."
The decrease is not surprising, he continues, "as there are fewer guns in circulation. But what is striking is that the total number of murders and suicides also decreased, not just those involving guns. Opponents of stricter gun regulations therefore can no longer argue that people who want to commit murder or suicide will just reach for another weapon, such as a knife or drugs. This is apparently not the case.”
Comments
"But what is striking is that the total number of murders and suicides also decreased, not just those involving guns."
This just proves that the fewer murders and suicides had nothing to do with the stricter gun law. A better analysis will surely show that it had to do with the 1995 law prohibiting the police taking their guns home and to carry them around while off duty (like when drinking in bars etc).
I await an American telling us all how much safer the country would be if we could all carry guns around. and that we are all slaves with no way to control the government. Actually, possibly not. The ones that do that tend to have never left the country.