This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

D. James Sceats, Jr, MD
Colorado Springs, Colo

JAMA. 1992;268(21):3070.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—I was a little dismayed at the AMA's becoming involved in the antigun cause without considering the causes for their violence. The use of guns for criminal activities cannot be justified, but the gun is not to blame; the person who holds it is.¹

A comparison of five societies would be instructive: Japan, Switzerland, the United States, South Africa, and Ireland.

To blame the guns for the violence is ridiculous. A frequently used example of low violence and restrictive gun laws is Japan. Both are true, but the reason for the low level of violence may be the culture, not the gun laws.

In Switzerland, they also have a low crime rate, but assault weapons are readily accessible to the male population, as they are generally in the Army. In both Japan and Switzerland the population is well educated and homogeneous. The United States has a . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?